SAILING THE SEAS OF SUCCESS - Swissco Holdings Limited

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
“Our Group expects the marine industry to
remain buoyant in the current year. With oil
prices at current levels, growth in the oil and
gas sector would likely be sustained. “
In our other core business of ship repair and
maintenance, we recorded an increase in both turnover
and profits. As you may be aware, the maritime business
is presently enjoying an uptrend and this, in turn,
translates to more repairs and maintenance being carried
out. Together, with greater cost control efforts and
measures, we were able to improve the efficiencies of
the business. Our Group will continue to strive to achieve
greater operational efficiencies.
Strategic Growth Directions
As a newly listed Company, we are aware of the
challenges facing us. We will focus on laying the
foundation for future expansion in our growing business
sectors and at the same time, generating organic growth.
We believe that the key factors for our success would be
our ability to stay customer-focused and results-oriented
as well as being a niche player in the competitive marine
logistics support business.
During the year, the Group has begun to look in earnest
for opportunities to expand into new markets, seek
strategic alliances and increase the fleet size especially
for more specialised vessels capable to support a wider
range of services required by the offshore oil and gas
industry.
Pursuant to our fleet expansion programme and in line
with our fleet renewal policy, we will continue to build up
our fleet to strive to reach an optimal operating size.
However, considerations would be given to market
conditions in our expansion plan.
expected to cater to clients’ needs and requirements
and thus attract better charter terms due to the
wider range of services they can perform. We can
expect favourable contributions from the new vessels
progressively as and when they join the fleet.
Pivotal to the success of our business would be
operational efficiencies and vessels utilisation. In this
aspect, our Group will continually strive to achieve
greater cost and operational efficiencies and at the
same time, maximise vessels’ utilisation. Towards these
objectives, we have instituted tighter cost and credit
control programmes and introduced rationalisation
and streamlining processes in our operations within
the Group.
Our Group expects the marine industry to remain
buoyant in the current year. With oil prices at current
levels, growth in the oil and gas sector would likely
be sustained. Consequently, we expect demand for
offshore support vessels and barges as well as ship
repairs and maintenance to continue to be robust in
FY05. Hence, our Group is likely to continue to enjoy
this uptrend and can look forward to yet another
profitable year.
Acknowledgement and Appreciation
It remains for me, on behalf of the Board, to thank our
management and staff for their commitment, efforts
and contribution during the year. We would also like
to thank and acknowledge the continuing support
of our customers, shareholders, business partners
and suppliers. We look forward to their ongoing
contribution and support in the coming year as we
progress with the growth of our Group.
Yeo Chong Lin
Chairman
Our Group will also be exploring with our business
partners to restructure our associated companies, which
have been playing a vital role in support and growth
of our business, to optimise the contributions made by
them.
Business Outlook
As part of our fleet expansion programme and in line
with our fleet renewal policy, we will be taking delivery of
14 vessels throughout FY05. The new vessels comprise 5
barges and 4 offshore boats being built in China, 4 work
boats in Singapore and 1 work boat in Malaysia. Upon
delivery of the 14 vessels, they will join our existing fleet
and this will bring our fleet size to over 32 vessels by
year end. The new buildings being specialised vessels are
ANNUAL REPORT 2004_3