KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 23): Perdana Petroleum Bhd’s (fundamental: 1.15; valuation: 1.80) net profit fell 31% to RM15.01 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2014 (4QFY14) from RM21.89 million a year ago, due to impairment losses from the acquisition of Perdana Marine Offshore Pte Ltd and Ampangship Marinse Sdn Bhd.

“Excluding the effect of the above one-off items, the effective profit before taxation in the current quarter is RM13.2 million which is comparable with RM13.0 million in the fourth quarter last year,” said the company in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

Revenue for 4QFY14 fell by a marginal 1% to RM77.55 million from RM78.04 million in 4QFY13.

For the full financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14), Perdana Petroleum (fundamental: 1.15; valuation: 1.80) saw its net profit rose 42% to RM88.05 million from RM61.66 million in FY13, while revenue increased 26% to RM347.22 million from RM274.65 million.

“The significant increase in turnover and profit before taxation is mainly due to higher vessel utilisation and increase in the number of vessels. The average vessel utilisation has improved from 80% in the previous year to 92% in the current year,” said Perdana Petroleum.

Going forward, the group said the oil and gas (O&G) segment will continue to face challenges, as the fluctuation in global oil prices remains uncertain.

It added that a continued decline in oil prices could translate to cutbacks on O&G companies’ exploration budgets and moderating development capital expenditures, which may lead to slower awards of new projects.

“However, the group operates a young and versatile fleet of offshore support vessels with an average age of approximately 4.3 years old," said Perdana Petroleum.

“Currently, more than 70% of our fleet are under long term contract with a strong order book of RM1.1 billion up to year 2019 and our tendering activities remain robust. We believe all these will continue to provide the longer-term charter opportunities and stability we required amid the uncertainty,” it added.

The counter fell 3 sen or 2.5% to close at RM1.19 today, giving a market capitalisation of RM901.1 million.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)