Two offshore marine firms' Q4 earnings hit record

TWO offshore marine players announced record fourth-quarter earnings yesterday.

Offshore support vessels (OSV) provider Nam Cheong reported a 43 per cent increase in net profit to a record 70.5 million ringgit (S$27.1 million), or earnings of 3.35 sen per share for the three months ended Dec 31, 2013, beating consensus forecast.

The results were helped by a one-off RM12.6 million tax writeback on deferred tax liabilities provisioned in FY2007-2012, now no longer necessary. Also helping was a RM4 million surge in "other income".