Vard sinks deeper into the red with 131m kronor Q4 loss

SHIPBUILDING and repair company Vard Holdings Limited's net loss for the fourth quarter deepened to 131 million Norwegian kronor (S$22.1 million) from 67 million kronor for the year-ago period.

Loss per share worsened to 0.11 krona, from a loss per share of 0.06 krona in the previous year, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Thursday morning.

For the three months ended Dec 31, revenue went up 25.3 per cent to 2.69 billion kronor from 2.15 billion kronor the previous year.

The increase in revenue was due to its yards in Romania and Vietnam enjoying higher activity levels due to the rapid progress on Module Carrier Vessels projects for Topaz Energy and Marine and Kazmortransflot, and the ongoing construction on six expedition cruise vessels contracted in 2016, it said.

For the full year, revenue rose 9 per cent to 8.6 billion kronor from 7.9 billion kronor the previous year. However, net loss widened to 233 million kronor from 163 million kronor the year before.

Net asset value per share dipped to 1.75 kronor as at Dec 31, from 1.92 kronor in a year ago.

Said Roy Reite, chief executive officer and executive director of Vard: "We are encouraged by the progress that our diversification efforts have yielded, but remain focused on sustaining and building our competitive positions in the offshore, expedition cruise vessel, fisheries and aquaculture markets.

"Meanwhile, we look to stabilise the varying workloads across our yards with a sustainable project portfolio, while undertaking right-sizing efforts focused on cost reduction and organisational development."

Vard shares finished flat at S$0.25 on Wednesday.