Singapore: Reporting fourth quarter net profit up 26% on the strength of higher oil rig sales and raised property earnings, Keppel Corp's Finance Director Teo Soon Hoe predicts a growing requirement for deepwater equipment and floating production solutions as the quest for new sources of oil moves further offshore into deeper waters. The world's largest rig builder produced some sparkling figures for 2006. Reporting them to analysts yesterday, the company's Finance Director pointed to full year earnings up by 33% to $751m, yielding earnings per share of 95.4 cents. "Our businesses generated robust free cash flow of $1.5 billion," he said, "more than twice the amount generated in 2005, lowering net gearing to 24%." Return on equity increased to just over 19%, compared with 16.4% one year earlier and total new contracts signed in 2006 amounted to $7.3 billion. [31/01/07]
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