Business

Friday February 22, 2013

MMHE Q4 income surges 117%


PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Marine And Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd (MMHE) saw its net profit surge 116.5% in the final quarter of last year to RM100.36mil from RM46.36mil a year ago, with most of its segments reporting improved earnings.

The oil and gas services provider said revenue rose 19.6% to RM857.01mil against RM716.15mil in the same period in 2011. Its earnings per share (EPS) for the three months to December stood at 6.5 sen compared to 2.9 sen previously.

The company also declared a dividend of 10 sen.

Its offshore division posted a better turnover and profit for the fourth quarter due to the higher project progress achieved from existing projects, it said in the notes to its financial statements.

“Currently, some of the group's projects in hand are at the advanced stages of completion and the group is actively finalising the relevant change orders with respective clients for additional and changed scope of work to enhance value creation,” it said.

MMHE's marine arm also saw its results improve due to the higher value and volume of repair works across all repair segments, particularly for liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships.

During the quarter, four LNG vessels were being repaired as opposed to three in the comparable period in 2011.

For fiscal 2012, the firm, a 66.5%-owned unit of MISC Bhd, posted a 27.6% decrease in net earnings to RM242mil from RM334.24mil year-on-year, which it attributed to lower operating profit from its offshore segment and the share of losses arising from the jointly-controlled entity's performance.

However, revenue rose 8.8% to RM3.33bil against the RM3.06bil recorded earlier. EPS dipped to 15.1 sen versus 20.9 sen in 2011.

While its offshore division saw revenue improve last year, operating profit was dented by provisions it made for higher expected expenses for some ongoing projects.

But income from its marine business improved by almost eight times to RM68.7mil, as it undertook more projects in the LNG segment.

“In addition to these activities, the engineering, procurement, construction and commisioning contract of the repair, life extension and conversion of an existing LNG vessel in floating storage unit Lekas, which was successfully completed and delivered during the current period, also contributed to the improved performance,” the company said.

On its outlook, MMHE said domestic exploration and production and enhanced oil recovery activities were “still buoyant”, with a number of new discoveries being announced in the past one year.

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