Swiber US$27.5m in the red in Q3

Singapore

SWIBER Holdings on Wednesday posted a net loss of US$27.5 million for the third quarter compared to a net profit of US$7.7 million made during the same period last year, due mainly to lower revenue recognition for projects that have not begun.

Revenue for the three months ended Sept 30 declined 60.9 per cent to US$107.3 million, from US$274.2 million last year. The decrease was due to significant revenue from on-going projects being recognised in FY2013 and recently awarded projects that have not commenced.

The lower revenue caused gross profit margin to fall to US$847,000 from US$39.0 million last year. Cost of sales decreased by US$128.7 million, or 54.7 per cent, to US$106.5 million from US$235.2 million last year.

"The new projects that Swiber clinched earlier this year are scheduled to start from the final quarter of the year. At the same time, we have been actively bidding for new orders in our target markets, particularly in South-east Asia, which is our primary revenue driver, as well as in South Asia, Latin America and West Africa," said Francis Wong, group chief executive officer and president of Swiber.

The group reported a net profit attributable to owners of the company of US$30.7 million for the nine months (9M) ended Sept 30. This was a decline of 3.8 per cent from US$31.9 million a year ago.

Group revenue in 9M contracted by 36.3 per cent to US$526.2 million compared to US$826.0 million last year, mainly due to lower revenue recognition from ongoing projects which were substantially completed in FY2013.

As at Nov 12, the group's order book stood at approximately US$535 million.

Swiber shares traded unchanged on Wednesday at 38.5 cents.