ASL Marine, the offshore support vessel operator and shipbuilder, has ended the year in the black as it continues its Covid-19 delayed restructuring efforts.
The Singapore-listed company reported a fourth-quarter net profit of SGD 10.4m ($7,7m), reversing a year ago loss of SGD 9.35m.
The results for the last three months of the financial year helped the company post a net profit for the full year of SGD 3.6m.
Revenue for the fourth quarter was up almost 62% to SGD 96.9m which was attributed to higher contributions from shipbuilding as well as ship repair, conversion and engineering services.
ASL Marine said its ship repair arm benefited not only from a higher volume of repair jobs but from projects with higher value, which involved repairs of larger vessels including bulk carriers, tankers, container/ cargo vessels, oil rigs, coal floating terminals, pipe lay and offshore supply vessels.
Its performance was also boosted by the disposal of one platform supply vessel, while two more PSVs secured long-term charter contracts with options to purchase.
ASL Marine was placed on the SGX watch list in December 2019 as part of its restructuring effort and given three years to regain the necessary listing requirements.
However, due to delays in the process caused by Covid-19, in October 2022 the company was granted an extension of that deadline until December 2023.
“During the past 3.5 years, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the progress of our recovery plan,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
“As we return to normality from the Covid-19 pandemic, the marine service industry has also recovered in tandem, barring the adverse impacts that may be caused by geopolitical rivalry; rising interest rates and currency fluctuation and inflationary increase in the prices of energy, raw materials as well as labour and staff costs due to a tight labour market.
“Whilst it is difficult to predict the impact of global events and the course of rising focus to greener solutions — for instance, future green fuel and offshore renewable energy — the overall long-term outlook of the marine industry remains positive and sustainable,” ASL Marine added.
Looking ahead, ASL Marine said it plans to expand its dry-docking capacity in Singapore, by deploying a second floating dock in September 2023 to capture a larger share of the local ship repair market for bunkering vessels and harbour craft.
As of 30 June 2023, ASL Marine said it had an outstanding shipbuilding order book from external customers of around SGD 42m for 10 vessels with progressive deliveries up to the second half of 2024.
The group’s ship chartering order book stands at around SGD 27m with respect to long-term contracts.
However, the company said that with the increase in demand for vessels from the traditional oil and gas industry, national infrastructure projects in the region and the emerging renewable energy market, it anticipates that it will “be able to secure more employment for its fleet of vessels”.
