The improvement in performance can be attributed to the re-focusing of the Group's businesses in industrial automation and information technologies services for the oil and gas industry and information technologies services for the financial services sector, the geographic expansion into Louisiana in USA and the cost-cutting and control measures implemented by the Group.

The Group's two divisions, Industrial business unit and IT Consulting business unit, contributed S$120.6 million (84.2%) and S$22.6 million (15.8%) to revenue and S$16.6 million (92.0%) and S$1.4 million (8.0%) to profit before tax, goodwill amortization, one-time charges and minority interest respectively.

The Group benefited substantially from its overseas operations, which contributed 85.5% of its revenues and 92.2% of its profit before tax, goodwill amortization, one-time charges and minority interest. The contributions by the geographical regions of Singapore, Asia, Europe/Middle East and The Americas are 14.5%, 10.1%, 18.6% and 56.8% for revenue and 7.8%, 18.8%, 21.2% and 52.2% for profit before tax, goodwill amortization, one-time charges and minority interest respectively.

In February 2002, the Group raised S$18.2 million from a placement of 40 million new shares. The Group has generated a positive net cash flow from operation of S$16.2 million. The Group had used the S$34.4 million net cash inflow to fund its acquisition of Control Concepts for S$19.6 million in August 2002, to fund its capital expenditure of S$1.2 million, to repay its bank loans of S$7.8 million and increase its bank balance by S$5.8 million. The Group had a cash and bank balance of S$11.5 million at the end of the year.

The Group ended the year with a Shareholders' Fund before minority interest S$38.1 million and a bank loan of S$38.5 million giving it a gross gearing ratio of 1.0 time.

The Group received new orders totaling of S$144.8 million for the year and the outstanding order as at end of FY2002 is S$82.3 million, an increase of 1.9% over the outstanding order as at end of FY2001.

The Group proposed a final dividend of half cent per ordinary share for FY2002. As this is the Group's maiden dividend, the Group decided to propose an additional special dividend of half cent per ordinary share to thank the shareholders who have supported the Group throughout the past years. The total dividend of one cent per ordinary share will be tabled for approval by shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting to be convened. The dividend yield is 2.5% using the 17 February 2003 closing share price of S$0.40 per share.

FY2003 will be a challenging year in the face of economic and other uncertainties. Amidst the uncertainties in its market, the outlook continues to be positive as prospects for new contracts remain at healthy levels. The Group will focus on building its market share in its current markets in USA, UK and South East Asia as well as pursue opportunities in new markets of Mexico, Middle East and China.

Based on the current outlook and assuming the absence of a global recession, the Group expects that the momentum of orders secured in FY2002 to continue and approximately 50% of the turnover for its Industrial business unit to continue to come from recurring short-term projects from its existing customer base, which are secured and delivered within three months. This, together with a backlog of S$82.3 million at the end of the year, will position the Group to achieve a better performance for FY2003.

CSE Systems & Engineering Limited is a global system integrator listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX: CSE Sys), operating in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. With over 600 employees worldwide, the Group provides state-of-the-art, cost-effective total integrated industrial automation and information technology solutions to clients globally in the energy (Oil & Gas/Power), chemical/petrochemical, water and telemetry, healthcare, banking and finance and public sectors. Visit www.cse.com.sg for more information.

Contact Information
CSE Systems & Engineering Ltd
Lim Boon Kheng @ boonkheng@cse.com.sg
Tel: 9735-2618