Ezra going through a sea-change

Over the past three years, profitability at Ezra Holdings has had as choppy a ride as one of its offshore support vessels caught in rough seas as management grappled with what it termed the transformational acquisition of its sub-sea business in 2010.

But Ezra's group CEO, Lionel Lee, maintains a composed demeanour in the face of criticism of his controversial yet bold strategy for the group, for which less than a handful of analysts are now rating the company as at best a "neutral" while most have rated it a "sell" or "underperform".

For one thing, the company's share price continues to defy equity analysts' low targets of between $1 and $1.30 per share, and traded to Friday's close near the year's high at $1.44. For another, Mr Lee believes most analysts…