NOL’s stock climbs to record high

NOL’s stock climbs to record high    Neptune Orient Lines’ stock price rose 3 percent to a new record high of S$3.64 ($2.22) on the Singapore stock exchange Tuesday after the market absorbed the news that NOL’s net profit soared 165 percent to $355 million in the fourth quarter to Dec, 31.
   The stock rose nearly 40 percent in 2004 and continued to climb before and after the profit announcement. NOL had doubled its stock price since 2003 and quadrupled it since the container shipping industry downturn of 2002.
   The latest results of Singapore government-controlled NOL substantially exceeded market forecasts of $176 million in fourth-quarter earnings, according to a Reuters survey of analysts.
   Last September, Temasek Holdings, a Singapore government agency, increased its shareholding in NOL to 68.6 percent by buying its stock at about S$2.80.