MHB first-half pre-tax profit falls to RM60 million

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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Bhd’s (MHB) pre-tax profit for the first half ended June 30, 2014 fell to RM60 million from RM109 million in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue declined to RM1.65 billion from RM1.71 billion previously.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, MHB said the poor performance was due to lower contributions from its offshore and marine segments.

It said revenue for offshore segment was relatively lower as most of the projects in hand were nearing completion with lower value of progress claims remaining.

MHB said the lower operating profit for the marine segment against the corresponding period was due to relatively lower margin from repair work performed and the closure of the dockgate for repair in the earlier part of the period.

Moving forward, it said, there were still residual revenue and profit to be recognised from some of the recently-completed or delivered projects subject to approval of outstanding variation orders by the respective clients.

It said its offshore unit was currently actively in various stages of the bidding process for various potential projects.

“Aggressive competition is expected for selected projects with the participation of regional and international companies.

“The awards of these projects, if and when secured, would come in the latter part of the year,” it said.

MHB said although the marine business faced competition from increased repair capability in the region, it remained favourable in the medium term as the continued growth in the number of shipping vessels would provide a growing need for dry docking and marine repair services. — Bernama