Emas Offshore posts jump in Q4 profit

THE sale and leaseback of vessels helped to boost the bottomline for offshore services company Emas Offshore in the fourth quarter as revenue fell.

The company made a post-tax profit of US$36.3 million for the three months ended Aug 31, a 181 per cent jump from US$12.94 million the previous year, it said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Tuesday.

Revenue came in at US$54.31 million, 19 per cent lower year-on-year, which the group said was mainly due to weakness in both its shallow water platform support vessel and anchor handling, towing and supply vessel segments.

The lift in post-tax profit was mainly due to other operating income. Emas Offshore said in a statement that other operating income included a gain relating to the sale of vessels on sale and leaseback transactions amounting to US$32.8 million.

For the full year ended Aug 31, post-tax profit leapt 626 per cent year-on-year to US$199.54 million though revenue fell 13 per cent to US$247.17 million.

Earnings per share grew to 0.08 US cent for Q4, from 0.05 US cent the previous year. Net asset value per share fell to US$1.22 as at Aug 31 this year, from US$2.84 as at Aug 31 last year.

Emas Offshore is dual-listed in Oslo and Singapore.