ASL Marine books stronger first half earnings

Net profit attributable to owners of the company for the six months ended 31 December 2015 was recorded at SGD7.07m ($5.05m), up 56.1% from SGD4.53m in the same period of the previous financial year.

First half revenue surged by 270.2% year-on-year to SGD175.63m, as the previous year’s first half revenue was hit by a rescission of two OSVs shipbuilding contracts.

ASL Marine’s other business segments such as shiprepair and conversion and engineering, however, registered lower revenue.

“The group remains actively involved in the building of other types of vessels such as tugs, barges, dredger and tankers which are less sensitive to low oil price,” Singapore-listed ASL Marine commented.

“These ‘non-OSV’ shipbuilding contracts provide the group a buffer to offset the impact of the diminishing OSV orders,” it said.

As at 31 December 2015, the group had a shipbuilding orderbook of approximately SGD282m for 21 vessels with progressive deliveries up to first quarter of financial year 2018. The orderbook comprises of AHTS vessels, tugs, barges, seismic support vessels and tankers.

ASL Marine pointed out that it is looking to take advantage of the low oil price to lower operating cost, and to refocus on other traditional business segments, particularly those that are positively sensitive to oil price.