Sembmarine's loss widened 85% to $137.17m in FY2019

An accelerated depreciation for Tanjong Kling Yard was partly blamed for its loss.

Sembcorp Marine's (Sembmarine) net loss worsened by 85% YoY to $137.17m in FY2019, from $74.13m in FY2018, the company announced. Its turnover crashed 41% to $2.88b from $4.89b over the same period.

In Q4, the group reversed to a $78.91m loss compared to a $5.93m profit in Q4 2018, whilst its turnover fell 31.7% YoY to $623.54m from $913.17m over the same period.

Its broadened loss was blamed on an accelerated depreciation for Tanjong Kling Yard and continued low overall business volume. However, it was countered by a rise in profits from the repairs and upgrade business, which saw improved margins and better product mix.

Meanwhile, the decline in turnover in Q4 was blamed on lower revenue recognition from rigs and floaters projects, although mitigated by higher repair and upgrades revenue. Excluding the delivery of a jack-up rig to Borr Drilling in Q4 2018, the group’s revenue would have just dropped 11% to $624m.

Revenue for its rigs & floaters business halved to $2.07b in FY 2019, compared with $4.15b in FY 2018. It mainly came from higher percentage recognition from ongoing drill ship and floater projects.

At the same time, revenue from repairs & upgrades jumped 27% to $605m, with higher revenue per vessel at $2.16m on improved vessel mix of higher-value works. A total of 280 vessels were repaired or upgraded in its yards in the year, compared to 296 in 2018.

Its offshore platforms revenue also hit $131m, coming from the Hornsea 2 wind farm substations and Tangguh gas modules projects.