Triyards clinches new orders amid dive in Q2 earnings

Offshore engineering and fabrication firm Triyards Holdings said on Monday that it had secured new orders worth about US$100 million, even as it posted a drop in earnings for its second quarter.

Triyards, which is the fabrication and engineering arm of mainboard-listed Ezra Holdings, builds liftboats and other vessels. Its latest contract wins were for a liftboat, a project to make components for a power plant on land and a high-speed aluminium craft project awarded to its shipbuilder unit, Strategic Marine.

The liftboat, which is scheduled for completion by August 2016, brings its newbuild pipeline to 11 liftboats, Triyards said in a statement.

Group chief executive officer Chan Eng Yew said the firm's contract wins were growing fast across a "diverse" range of products. It has added about US$275 million to its orderbook since the start of 2015, he noted, adding that he expects more orders to come in despite a "challenging and competitive operating environment".

His comments came as the company's Q2 net profit dived 34 per cent from last year to US$5.1 million. Turnover for the three months ended Feb 28 also sank 18 per cent to US$61.1 million.

Triyards said the decline in revenue was mainly because vessel projects that had contributed significantly the preceding year had either been delivered or had reached their final completion stage by Feb 28. These projects included subsea construction vessel Lewek Constellation.

Earnings per share for the six months ended Feb 28 came in at 4.16 US cents, lower than 5.11 US cents the previous year. Net asset value per share rose slightly to 60.24 US cents as at Feb 28 this year, from 57.37 US cents as at Aug 31 last year.

Triyards shares closed flat at S$0.385 on Monday.