In Sembcorp Industries first quarter results announcement on Thursday new president and ceo Neil McGregor announced a review of the group’s businesses and strategic direction.
“As Sembcorp’s new group president and ceo, I will be working closely with the board and management to stabilise and strengthen our position in our markets. Over the next few months, we will be undertaking a complete review of our businesses and strategic direction,” McGregor said.
“As we position Sembcorp for the future, our focus will be on performance, sustainability and value creation. We face a challenging macro environment with rapidly changing market dynamics. This requires us to focus on cost discipline and strengthening operating performance.”
Shipyard group Sembcorp Marine has been hard hit by the fall in the oil price and resulting impact on the offshore marine sector. The shipyard unit contributed SGD24.1m of Sembcorp Industries first quarter net profit of SGD119.1m.
The announcement of the strategic review triggered renewed market speculation that the shipyard business of Sembcorp and Keppel Corp could be merged. The idea of a merger of the two shipyard groups dates back to the early noughties but has never gone beyond the speculation. In particular Keppel has appeared resistant to the concept in the past.
McGregor took up the post of president and ceo of Sembcorp Industries at the beginning of April, and was previously the first ceo of Singapore LNG, the country’s first LNG terminal. Sembcorp Industries owns a 61% stake in Sembcorp Marine which has a separate listing on the Singapore Exchange.
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