Swiber swings to red for FY2015

OFFSHORE services provider Swiber Holdings, still heavily geared, sank into the red for its fiscal year 2015 after booking a sizeable impairment loss on an investment in an associate and a drop in other operating income.

It racked up a loss of US$27.38 million for the 12 months to Dec 31, down from a profit of US$16.42 million in the year-ago period.

However, revenue increased by 14.7 per cent to US$833 million in FY2015 from the preceding year. It said this was due to significant revenue recognised for its Latin America project and the execution of new projects in South Asia, which was offset by a decrease in revenue in South-east Asia.

It did not report fourth-quarter earnings figures.

The group's loss per share for FY2015 was six US cents, down from a restated earnings per share of five US cents in FY2014.

Its net asset value per share fell to 105.6 US cents as at Dec 31, 2015, compared with 181.1 US cents as at end-December 2014.

The group remained fairly indebted, with its net debt-to-equity ratio inching up to 1.59 as at Dec 31, 2015, from 1.53 as at Sep 30, 2015.

No dividend was proposed. It had declared a special dividend of S$0.03 per share for FY2014.

Swiber shares were flat at S$0.20 on Monday before its results were out.