By Lawrence Yong
Perdana Petroleum Bhd’s sharp earnings rebound for the first quarter of 2013 affirms that the once loss-making ship lender has been revived by a wave of offshore oil and gas activities in Malaysia, analysts said.
The company proved this when it said Monday that its 1Q13 net profit stood at RM11 million, a swing away from the RM8 million in losses posted in the same period a year ago.
“Overall, we believe Perdana is now on track to deliver steady income growth going forward fuelled by the company’s target of owning 20 vessels in total, ” Public Investment Bank’s equities research unit said.
Perdana Petroleum had previously suffered losses for three consecutive years due to the high cost of maintaining its under-utilised fleet of marine vessels. In 2012, Perdana narrowed its losses to RM4 million versus RM69-RM70 million a year in 2011 and 2010. However, for the full year 2013, analysts expected Perdana net profits to rebound to RM50-RM55 million.
Analysts were also positive on the company’s shares since it had lagged its small-cap energy industry peers such as Dayang Enterprise Bhd, Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd and Petra Energy Bhd which have seen share prices rally back to 2008 heights in recent weeks. Even though it has rallied over 50 percent since the start of the year, Perdana’s shares which now trade at RM1.80-RM1.84 levels, were still far from their 2008 peaks of RM3.
Perdana Petroleum was in a good position to support Dayang Enterprise as it looks set to win up to RM4 billion jobs in the Pan Malaysia hook up, construction and commissioning (HUCC) job tender to be awarded over next two months. Dayang holds a 26.1 percent stake in Perdana.
According to analysts, Perdana now owns a fleet of 17 vessels: Eight anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels, seven work barges and two work boats.
Average utilisation rates saw an increase to 74 percent in 1Q13 as compared to 56 percent in 1Q12, Perdana said. Compared to the last quarter, however, its vessel utilisation rate fell from 85 percent to 74 percent, affected by the monsoon season, scheduled drydocking and maintenance works.
“Seven of its 13 offshore support vessels or OSVs are on multi-year charters, anchoring FY13 earnings. Net profit should grow 71 percent in FY14 as four new work barges come progressively onstream over the next four quarters, destined, we believe, for Dayang’s use,” Maybank IB Research noted.
Perdana has also recently started upgrading its fleet by selling away older, lower-powered vessels. After selling off seven vessels, to earn RM8-RM10 million, the company now plans to acquire four new work barges which are expected to be delivered by 2013/2014, analysts said.
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