ASL posts 19.8% increase in Q2 profit

ASL Marine posted a second quarter attributable profit of S$1.82 million, up 19.8 per cent from S$1.52 million last year.

Total revenue from its four business divisions - shipbuilding; shiprepair and conversion; shipchartering; and engineering - was S$99.68 million for Q2 FY15, compared to a negative turnover of S$21.09 million for Q2 FY14. Excluding the revenue reversal from the rescission of two offshore support vessel shipbuilding contracts in FY14, Q2 revenue for last year was S$75.9 million

First half attributable profit was S$7.07 million, up from S$4.53 million.

Revenue for the first six months was S$175.63 million, up from S$47.44 million.

The plunge in oil price has seen slashing of capital expenditure in the offshore and marine segment and resulting in a stagnant offshore support vessel market.

ASL said it is refocusing on other traditional business segments not adversely affected by the oil price slump to improve its bottomline.

"The group remains actively involved in the building of other types of vessels such as tugs, barges, dredger and tankers, (which) provide a buffer to offset the impact of diminishing OSV orders," the company said.

Its outstanding shipbuilding order book comprising anchor handling tug supply vessels, tugs, barges, seismic support vessels and tankers, stood at S$282 million with progress deliveries up to the first quarter of FY18.

ASL Marine closed at S$0.305 on Thursday, down 3 cents before the release of its Q2 results.