Sembcorp Marine Q4 Profit Down

Singapore's Sembcorp Marine Ltd said on Thursday its quarterly net profit fell 4.6 percent as revenue from rig building activity dropped and as the year-ago quarter was boosted by a tax write-back.

Sembcorp Marine, engaged in rig building and ship repair, posted a net profit of S$174.1 million ($128 million) for the fourth quarter. It posted a full-year profit of S$560.1 million, beating a mean forecast of S$549.4 million by 22 analysts, Reuters data showed.

The company said it secured S$4.2 billion worth of new contracts in 2014, which brought the total outstanding order book to S$11.43 billion, down from S$12.34 billion at the end of 2013 and lowest since 2011.

Orders for drillships, vessels that can drill on ocean floor thousands of metres below surface, account for more than half of the order book. This has become a growing concern among investors, as Brazil, the market these orders are built for, is riled with a corruption probe on its national oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras).

Sembcorp Marine said the turnover in the fourth quarter from rig building, the biggest revenue contributor, fell 27 percent on the year, though offshore and conversion business grew 26 percent.

"The Group continues to face tough competition in upcoming tenders for new projects in the offshore exploration and production sectors," said the company in a statement.

Sembcorp Marine, part of industrial conglomerate Sembcorp Industries Ltd, which is controlled by Singapore's state investor Temasek Holdings, was the worst performer on Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index so far this year.

Its shares have fallen over 7 percent, lagging behind a 2 percent gain in the index.

The company declared a final cash dividend of 8 Singapore cents per share, compared with 6 cents a year earlier. ($1 = 1.3598 Singapore dollars)

Copyright Reuters 2015.