Ezra badly hurt by vessel offhire and project delays

Operating profit dropped to US$21.6m.

According to a release, operations at Ezra's offshore support division, EMAS AMC, were impacted by vessel offhire during various periods of the quarter. As at 31 May 2013, eight offshore vessels were offhire.

Further, EMAS AMC experienced some delays in project execution due to the rescheduling for the delivery of some projects for clients and the recognition of additional unexpected costs for certain other projects.

However, EMAS AMC’s performance strengthened significantly in May 2013 with it contributing positively to the Group.

As a result the Group had lower profit margins with operating profit decreasing from US$36.8 million in 3QFY2012 to US$21.6million in 3QFY2013. For 9MFY2013, operating profit decreased to US$83.6 million from US$88.9 million in 9MFY2012. Since 31 May 2013, most of the offhire vessels under EMAS Marine have been redeployed.

Meanwhile, for the nine months ended 31 May 2013, Group revenue increased 28% to US$842.9 million from US$657.9 million in the same period in the previous year.