Keppel Offshore & Marine has logged an annual profit for the first time since 2016 and is growing its workforce to further improve its performance this year.
Chief executive officer Loh Chin Hua described the shipbuilding, repair and conversion division’s SGD 10m ($7.4m) net profit for 2019 as “a significant improvement” over the SGD 109m loss reported in the 2018 financial year.
Keppel O&M turned in a SGD 76m operating for the year more than double the SGD 37m for 2018. Revenue almost doubled to SGD 775m, mainly on the back of increased project work like the 11 jackup rigs being built for Borr Drilling and the conversion of Golar LNG’s vessel Gimi into a floating LNG production unit, the company said.
The division’s pre-tax loss for the fourth quarter of 2019 was down at SGD 37m, compared to $97m in the same period last year.
Gong Xi Fa Cai
Loh, who was speaking at a Keppel Corp group results briefing, said Keppel O&M’s net order book stood at stood at S$4.4bn at the end of 2019. The division added 2,800 direct employees to its workforce last year to handle its increased workload and expects to employ a further 1,500 in 2020 to enhance its performance, Loh said.
The CEO said that during 2019 the company secured over 100 scrubber and ballast water treatment system retrofit projects and has kicked off 2020 with the delivery of the fifth of 11 jackup rigs it is building for Borr Drilling.
He said Keppel is also pursuing projects in the growing offshore renewable sector as well as niche segments of the specialised vessel market.
Keppel has 170 staff in Wuhan, China, which currently in lockdown due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Officials said operators there have been advised to take the necessary precautions.
Loh said Keppel Corp has started planning it growth trajectory for 2030, using a group of young business leaders from within the group. He said more details of the vision for the next decade will be given later this year.
Among its plans he revealed that the group will introduce an internal carbon price in the evaluation of all major investment decisions and will be enhancing its climate risk assessment, as it strengthens its commitment to sustainability and combating climate change.
Keppel Corp, which aside from its O&M division operates investment, property and infrastructure arms, reported a 42% year-on-year increase in its fourth quarter net profit of SGD 191.4m, on a 31% rise in revenue to SGD 2.20bn for the preceding three months.
The group recorded a pre-tax profit of SGD238m for the quarter, up 44% on the figure for 2018.
