ASL Marine full year profit plunges 50%

Full year profit came up to SGD22.12m ($17.71m), down 50.3% compared to a profit of SGD44.47m in 2013.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, however, the shipbuilder recorded a loss of SGD3.03m as against a gain of SGD14.41m a year ago due mainly to the cancellation of one OSV and delayed delivery in two other OSVs.

ASL Marine added that “the interaction of accounting policies and timing issues with respect to ship repairs” also contributed to the fourth quarter loss.

“We would like to highlight that the fourth quarter was an anomaly to our usual financial performance and we expect that in first quarter of full year 2015 the results will revert back to trend,” said Ang Kok Tian, chairman and managing director of ASL Marine.

Earlier this month, Singapore-listed ASL Marine had warned investors of a fourth quarter loss due to delivery delays and cancellations.

Meanwhile, revenue for 2014 rose 9.5% year-on-year to SGD509.8m due primarily to higher contributions from the ship repair and conversion segment and engineering segment, which were partially offset by the decline in revenue from the shipbuilding and ship chartering segments.

“The acquisition of our third shipyard in Batam marks the group’s strategic commitment to further strengthen and expand our shipbuilding and ship repair capacity and capabilities,” Ang said.