KUALA LUMPUR: Scomi Group Bhd returned to the black with a net profit of RM22.75 million, or 1.46 sen earnings per share, for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015 (4QFY15), compared with a net loss of RM4.16 million or 0.27 sen per share a year ago.

Revenue for 4QFY15 rose 3.6% to RM436.36 million from RM421.32 million a year ago. 

For the full financial year ended March 31, 2015 (FY15), its net profit surged 894.75% to RM49.3 million or 3.17 sen a share from RM4.96 million or 0.31 sen a share for FY14, driven by the growth of its marine services segment.

In a statement yesterday, Scomi attributed the substantial improvement in its FY15 earnings to the turnaround in the transport solutions division. From a loss of RM37.7 million for FY14, the division posted a net profit of RM400,000 for FY15.

The group's revenue for FY15 also increased 8.8% to RM1.8 billion from RM1.65 billion for FY14, led by its marine services division which posted a 54.9% increase, followed by its oilfield services and transport solutions businesses with 3.6% and 0.6% growth, respectively.

“The group’s performance is very encouraging, and in spite of the current market condition, we will continue to focus on our key strategies,” said Scomi chief financial officer Zarof Abu Bakar.

“We are constantly looking to boost efficiencies, streamlining and consolidating operations for greater resource optimisation across all business units. I believe this will prove vital, given the increasingly competitive environment. We will also continue to leverage technology and innovation to optimise costs in this challenging market condition,” he added.

For FY16, the group will continue to actively bid for projects. In 4QFY15, its oilfield services unit submitted over RM700 million worth of new orders.

“In addition, the oilfield services team will intensify efforts to grow existing markets, especially in the Middle East, where drilling activity remains high despite the low crude oil prices. For transport solutions, the division is looking to participate in monorail bids in Brazil, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Turkey,” it said.

Currently, Scomi (fundamental: 0.55; valuation: 0.90) has a combined order book of RM5.3 billion, of which RM3.9 billion is from the oilfield services segment, RM1.2 billion from transport solutions and RM190 million from marine services.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 22, 2015.