Vard Down 83 Percent

Shipbuilder and designer of offshore and specialised vessels, Vard Holdings, has seen its profit slip on operational expenses, despite revenue growth.

Namely, the Singapore-listed company’s profit after tax decreased 83 percent from NOK 300 million in the previous year to NOK 50 million at the end of 2014.

In the fourth quarter 2014 (Q4 2014), Vard’s profit also dropped to NOK 20 million, compared with NOK 106 million profit in the corresponding period of 2013.

Furthermore, high activity at the yards and with subcontractors, resulted in VARD’s 4Q2014 45.5% revenue growth of NOK 4.5 billion from the corresponding period in 2013. Revenue for the full year increased 15.8% to NOK 12.9 billion year-on-year.

Vard delivered 18 vessels during the 2014. New order intake for the 2014 added up to almost NOK 9.5 billion across 16 vessels. For the fourth quarter of 2014 order intake was NOK 503 million, with one Offshore Subsea Construction Vessel for Farstad Shipping contracted.

VARD said it had 39 firm vessel orders, 24 of which will be of VARD’s own design amounting at NOK 17.7 billion.

The company expects new order intake for 2015 to be weak due to unfavourable short-term market situation, although, according to VARD, the existing order book ensures good revenue coverage for the majority of the year.