Keppel Corp Ltd News

Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp Ltd on Thursday posted a higher net profit for the first quarter, boosted by a significant one-off gain recognized from the sale of its offshore & marine unit.In February, Sembcorp Marine completed a S$4.50 billion ($3.37 billion) buyout of Keppel's offshore & marine unit after receiving the necessary shareholder approvals.Keppel recognized a gain of S$3.3 billion and received S$500 million of cash in the first quarter following the transaction, it said.The company did not disclose a profit figure, but said that revenue for the quarter was S$2.26 billion, u

Keppel Corp Ltd has entered into an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to form a joint venture company, which will establish a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering business in Singapore, says a report in Reuters. The two companies will have a 50 percent stake each in the joint venture. Its principal business activity will be to supply LNG bunkering operations services in Singapore to ships and any other marine vessels in the Singapore port and other related services, Keppel said in a statement. The joint venture is the latest in Shell’s push to establish as LNG as a viable marine fuel. The abovementioned transaction will not have any material impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of KCL for the financial year ending 31 December 2016, says a company statement.

Keppel Corp Ltd said it entered into an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to form a joint venture company, which will establish a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering business in Singapore.   The two companies will have a 50 percent stake each in the joint venture. Its principal business activity will be to supply LNG bunkering operations services in Singapore to ships and any other marine vessels in the Singapore port and other related services, Keppel said in a statement on Thursday. (Reporting By Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

The strain of low oil prices on the offshore and marine sector was in full display as  the world’s second-largest builder of oil rigs Sembcorp Marine Ltd posted its first quarterly loss in at least 12 years. The company took impairment charges and provisions of S$609 million for projects of its client Sete Brasil Participacoes SA and others. It’s the first quarterly loss since the company started reporting data in 2003, according to Sembcorp Marine’s website. Sete Brasil is a private company set up in 2010 to build, own and lease deepwater rigs to state-run oil producer Petrobras. But Sete ran into financing difficulties in 2014, after it was caught up in a corruption scandal involving Petrobras executives…

Posts S$535 mln loss vs year ago profit; net order book backlog at S$10.4 billion. Singaporean rig builder Sembcorp Marine Ltd posted its first quarterly loss, hit by writedowns and project delays by its key customers, underscoring the strain caused by plunging crude oil prices. The company also warned that it expects the downtrend to last longer than previous cycles as Singapore's $10 billion rig building industry faces cancellations and a dearth of new orders. For the fourth quarter, Sembcorp posted a S$535.2 million ($383 million) attributable loss, excluding non-operating items, compared with a profit S$174 million for the same year ago period. It said fourth-quarter net profit would have been S$99 million before impairments and provisions and losses from associates and joint ventures.

A subsidiary of Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp Ltd said it signed a 15-year contract with the International Seabed Authority to search the ocean for scarce minerals. The push to explore the ocean is gaining momentum as ore grades on land decline and demand grows for metals in high-tech applications. Ocean Mineral Singapore Pte Ltd (OMS) said it would conduct environmental studies and surveys for deposits of polymetallic nodules, which contain copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese, along with rare earth minerals, at a site within the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, located between Hawaii and Mexico, of the Pacific Ocean. OMS is majority owned by Keppel, while a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin and private investment company Lion City Capital Partners are minority shareholders.

Keppel Corp's full-year profit up 2 pct at S$1.9 bln. Singapore's Keppel Corp Ltd said fourth-quarter net profit rose 6.1 percent to S$725.9 million ($544.8 million), while its full-year profit rose 2 percent and beat analysts' consensus. Keppel on Thursday posted a full-year profit of S$1.9 billion, beating the S$1.6 billion average estimate of 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The fourth-quarter profit was boosted by a 2.6 percent gain in offshore and marine unit's pretax profit and contribution from the infrastructure unit that posted a loss a year earlier. Its property division's pretax income dropped 37 percent on the year, Keppel said in a statement.

This would be only the second mainboard IPO in Singapore this year. Singapore's IPO market lacklustre in recent years, but oil and gas related offerings find favour in Singapore. A major operator of maritime support vessels controlled by Malaysia's richest man is seeking up to $380 million in a Singapore IPO - a boost to the city-state's stock market which has seen just one other mainboard listing this year. The deal from PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH), the largest Asia-based international operator of support vessels for offshore oilfields, comes as Singapore's IPO market has struggled in recent years. Most big-ticket listings in Asia opt for Hong Kong where there is more robust demand from Chinese and international investors.

PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH), part of the empire of Malaysia's richest man Robert Kuok, has roped in Hwang Investment Management Berhad and Fortress Capital Asset Management as cornerstone investors for its Singapore listing, which sources close to the matter said could raise about $400 million. The two cornerstone investors would take up 85.6 million shares, according to the company's preliminary prospectus. POSH operates a fleet serving offshore oilfields in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Singapore is home to the world's two biggest rig builders, Keppel Corp Ltd and Sembcorp Marine Ltd, as well as smaller oil services companies such as Ezion Holdings Ltd. The sources declined to be identified because the information has not been made public.

Singapore's Keppel Corp Ltd and Sembcorp Marine Ltd, the world's top offshore rig-makers, stand to be among the winners through Beijing's moves to tighten credit amid a downturn at China's shipyards, reports Reuters. The two companies have been under mounting pressure from Chinese yards offering generous payment terms, price discounts and help with financing, but that may be changing after Beijing pledged to cut credit to industries plagued with overcapacity, and China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group, the country's largest private shipbuilder, fell into financial trouble. Rongsheng could now become the biggest casualty of a local shipbuilding industry suffering from overcapacity and shrinking orders amid a global shipping downturn.

Keppel Corp Ltd said on Tuesday it was restructuring its towage business which will be completed by the end of September. In a statement, the company announced that it has signed a letter of intent with Smit International Ltd. to sell 49 percent of its wholly-owned unit Maju Maritime Pte Ltd. to Smit.

Keppel Corp Ltd. unit Arab Heavy Industries (AHI) has started construction on its first drydock, valued at $19.1 million. "The number of ports in the Arabian Gulf is increasing and with AHI in the heart of United Arab Emirates, the business hub of the Middle East, this strategic investment will position our company as the premiere medium-sized yard in the region," Obaid Ali Al Muhairi, AHI's chairman said. AHI is a joint stock company of the government of Ajman, the Al Futtaim Group, the Keppel Group and other investors.