Hyflux, Singapore’s biggest water treatment company, posted a 4.7% increase in first-quarter profit

Hyflux, Singapore’s biggest water treatment company, posted a 4.7% increase in first-quarter profit as it reduced spending on raw materials and labour.

Net income climbed to $8 million in the three months ended March 31, from $7.7 million a year earlier, Hyflux said in a statement to the stock exchange today. Operating costs and expenditures fell by about 8%, according to the company, which built Singapore’s first water-recycling plant.

The industrial water sector’s outlook is improving, Hyflux said. Countries such as China and India “impose more stringent water discharge standards and encourage industries to seek alternative sustainable sources of water, such as recycling and desalination,” according to the statement.

Hyflux said its Tuaspring Desalination Plant in the city-state is undergoing testing and commissioning and is scheduled to begin operations in the second half of this year.