Shipbuilder JES International slumps into the red

Singapore: Chinese shipbuilder JES International plunged into the red last year but remains confident on the long-term outlook for the shipbuilding industry. Singapore-listed JES reported a full loss for 2009 of RM107m ($15.6) compared to a RMB49.5m profit a year earlier. Revenues dipped 6.8% last year RMB1.5bn that the company blamed on a slower production process and delivery delays. Despite the near term weakness of the Chinese shipbuilding market JES said it remained confident about the long-term outlook. It said the recovery of shipping indices and the potential bottoming out of the global economy boded well for the global shipbuilding industry that was hit by cancellations and delivery delays in 2009. [25/02/10]