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Rigs jack up SembCorp numbers



By Upstream staff 

Singapore's SembCorp Industries saw its profit rise by 14% in the third quarter of the year, lifted by the strong performance of its rig building business.

SembCorp earned S$75.6 million (US$48.3 million) in the July-September period, up from S$66.1 million in the same quarter last year.

The lion's share of profits in the quarter came from SembCorp's 62% owned unit SembCorp Marine. Last week, SembCorp Marine reported a 37% jump in third-quarter net profit.

The group said net profit trebled to S$643.5 million in the first nine months, thanks to gains from the sale of assets. However, without those exceptional items, it earned a nine-month profit of S$243.6 million from its continuing operations.

In July, in a move to boost rig-building capacity and capabilities, SembCorp Industries agreed to sell its offshore and marine engineering business, a shipyard and some fabrication facilities in Indonesia to SembMarine.

The move followed the sale of SembCorp's stake in SembCorp Logistics to Australia's Toll Holdings in March and the sale of SembCorp Engineers & Constructors to an Indian engineering firm Punj Lloyd in June.

Analysts said this would help SembCorp Industries focus on its core utilities and environment engineering businesses.

The cash raised from these deals helped partly fund a 40% stake worth US$1.3 billion in a power and desalination plant in Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, bought in July by the conglomerate's wholly owned subsidiary SembCorp Utilities.


Monday, 06 November, 2006, 09:43 GMT  | last updated: Monday, 06 November, 2006, 10:31 GMT

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