Marco Polo Marine’s H2 net profit rises 74% to $18.3 million

SINGAPORE – Marco Polo Marine reported a net profit of $18.3 million for its second half of the fiscal year ended Sept 30, 2023, up 74 per cent from $10.5 million in H2 FY2022 on the back of higher revenue, expanded gross profit margins, and lower expenses.

This brings the integrated logistics company’s earnings per share (EPS) for H2 to $0.0054, up 69 per cent from the prior year’s EPS of $0.0032.

Reflecting the company’s strong net cash position, its board on Nov 27 proposed a final dividend of $0.001 as opposed to none in the prior year.

Revenue for the second-half period rose 21.8 per cent to $71.2 million from $58.5 million, on growing contributions from ship chartering operations as the company’s fleet of offshore vessels registered higher rates for average utilisation and charter.

The ship building and repair operations segment’s revenue grew as well, due to higher contract values of repair projects and the commencement of new shipbuilding projects in the period under review.

Group gross profit margin expanded to 39.3 per cent from 33 per cent in H2 FY2022, mainly due to better margins in the ship chartering operations segment.

Administrative expenses declined 34.2 per cent year-on-year to $5.2 million from $7.9 million amid lower staff costs as the group ceased incentives given to key management personnel.

Other operating expenses fell 35.8 per cent to $1.7 million from $2.6 million a year prior, primarily due to lower foreign exchange movement.

For the full year, Marco Polo Marine recorded a 5.8 per cent higher net profit of $22.6 million as opposed to $21.3 million in FY2022.

Full-year revenue grew 47.7 per cent on the year to $127.1 million from $86.1 million, while gross profit margin expanded to 36 per cent from 31.9 per cent.

The group’s chief executive Sean Lee hailed FY2023 as a “year of significant growth” for Marco Polo Marine mainly due to notable success in the ship chartering segment, which was marked by increased fleet utilisation and strong growth in charter rates.

“Concurrently, our shipyard operations also delivered a commendable set of results, fuelled by valuable new contracts with higher project margins,” he added.

Shares of Marco Polo Marine were trading flat at $0.052 at 12.30pm on Nov 27. THE BUSINESS TIMES