Ezra posts 10% rise in Q4 net to US$11m
Singapore
EZRA Holdings saw its net profit for the fourth quarter ended August jump 10 per cent, from US$10.04 million to US$11.0 million. This was on the back of a 6 per cent increase in revenue, from US$419.2 million to US$446.0 million, the group reported on Friday.
For the 12 months ended August, net profit dropped 16 per cent, from US$53.6 million to US$45.3 million whereas its revenue jumped 18 per cent from US$1.262 billion to US$1.488 billion.
This despite the group seeing lower revenue contribution of US$25.4 million from its offshore support services division, EMAS Marine, which it consolidated with EOC Ltd for a dual listing as EMAS Offshore Ltd on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) earlier this month.
The group's earnings per share for the full year dropped to 4.65 US cents from 5.51 US cents last year.
EMAS AMC, Ezra's subsea services division, continued to deliver strong and sustained growth with five recurring quarters of operational profitability. Its revenue grew 32 per cent to US$1.0 billion in FY14, contributing 70 per cent to the group's revenue, as a result of the group's strategy to improve operational efficiency and economies of scale by increasing fleet capacity and optimising deployment to undertake more projects.
EMAS AMC also secured orders valued at almost US$1.0 billion in total from the start of FY14 till date despite current weaker market sentiment, building a healthy backlog of projects up to 2016. On Friday also, EMAS AMC announced awards for multiple contract wins from various energy companies in the US Gulf of Mexico and Asia Pacific valued at over US$70 million, continuing its winning global momentum.
Operationally, EMAS AMC's project enabling asset and flagship vessel Lewek Constellation - an ice-classed, multi-lay offshore construction vessel with ultra-deep water pipe laying and heavy lift capabilities - is expected to turn fully operational in 1Q2015, and will be employed for her maiden deepwater pipelay project in 2015.
"We have achieved healthy revenue growth of 23 per cent CAGR over the last three years, driven by strong performance of EMAS AMC," said Ezra's Group CEO and managing director Lionel Lee. "With Lewek Constellation turning fully operational in 1Q2015, we remain optimistic and confident that she will be helming the group's future, and we will be able to achieve our desired levels of economies of scale in the next 3-5 years by driving operational efficiency to optimise profitability."
The group said it maintains a healthy backlog of approximately US$2.4 billion, with most contracts expected to be executed over the next 12-18 months.
Ezra's shares closed one cent lower on Friday at 83 Singapore cents.
