ASL Marine Q3 earnings dive on industry downturn

A dearth of shipbuilding orders for offshore support vessels took its toll on third-quarter earnings for shipyard ASL Marine, which said on Tuesday that new shipbuilding projects have slowed down, been put on hold or have been cancelled.

Net profit for the three months to March 31 plummeted 65.7 per cent from the previous year to S$1.94 million, while revenue dived 56.2 per cent to S$63.42 million in the period.

The drop in revenue was mainly because of the industry downturn and the ship construction cycle, the company said in a Singapore Exchange filing, noting that its shipbuilding segment actually incurred a gross loss in Q3 due to an overrun in subcontractors' costs.

However, that loss was offset by better profit margins from its ship repair and conversion segment, due to the completion of a one-off special project, ASL Marine said.

Earnings per share fell to 0.46 Singapore cents in Q3, down from 1.35 Singapore cents the previous year. Net asset value per share rose to S$1.0004 as at March 31, up from S$0.9788 as at June 30 last year.

The group's outstanding shipbuilding orders from external customers stood at about S$257 million for 18 vessels as at March 31, it said.

ASL Marine shares were flat at S$0.435 on Tuesday.