Swiber deeper into the red with US$2.56m Q1 loss

HIGHER tax expenses dragged offshore engineering services provider Swiber Holdings deeper into the red in its first quarter.

It made a net loss of US$2.56 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016, 2.4 per cent larger than the US$2.5 million loss the previous year, it said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Friday.

This was though revenue climbed 16 per cent from the preceding year to US$191.34 million, which Swiber said was due mainly to new contracts secured in the last 12 months "despite depressed market conditions".

"In particular, revenue from ongoing projects in South Asia contributed 92.2 per cent or US$176.4 million, with the balance coming from Latin America," it noted in its statement. It said its order book stood at US$1.2 billion as at Friday.

Loss per share in Q1 was 0.6 US cent, worse than the loss per share of 0.4 US cent in the year-ago period. Group net asset value per share was 105.6 US cents as at March 31, unchanged from as at Dec 31 last year.

Swiber shares fell 0.9 Singapore cent to end at S$0.18 on Friday before its results were released.