Building liftboats for the energy industry sent fourth-quarter earnings soaring at Triyards Holdings.

Net profit at the marine engineering group rose 59 per cent to US$8.4 million (S$11.6 million) for the three months ended Aug 31, compared with the figure in the same period a year earlier. Revenue recorded an even bigger boost, surging 81 per cent to US$88.4 million, the firm reported yesterday.

Earnings for the full year rose 2 per cent to US$27.2 million on the back of a 1 per cent increase in revenue to US$270.1 million.

Fourth-quarter revenue was boosted by income recognised from the construction of four liftboats and from sales at Triyards unit SM Group.

Earnings per share for the 12 months was 8.43 US cents, down from 9.04 US cents last year. Net asset value per share came in at 64.32 US cents as of Aug 31, up from 57.37 US cents a year earlier. Triyards declared a 1 cent per share dividend.

The firm said in a statement that there would likely be continued demand for liftboats despite companies "(reducing) oil and gas capital expenditure, especially for exploration activities", because of lower oil prices.

Triyards also announced yesterday that it secured US$100 million of contracts over the past two months to build three chemical tankers, two high-speed craft and certain industrial parts.

Chief executive Chan Eng Yew said in a statement: "Backed by our established engineering and fabrication expertise, we will continue to build on our product range. This, together with our focused marketing in target segments, will help Triyards sustain growth despite the challenging environment."

Triyards shares closed up 0.5 cent or 1.25 per cent at 40.5 cents yesterday.