Rickmers Maritime

Container ship operator Rickmers Maritime remained stuck in the red for the second quarter due to huge impairment charges.

The mainboard-listed trust reported a net loss of US$55.6 million (S$74.5 million) for the three months to June 30, owing largely to a non-cash impairment of US$51.5 million in the light of the depressed charter market, said its trustee manager yesterday. This was far wider than the US$15.7 million net loss a year earlier.

Charter revenue fell 37 per cent to US$18 million, due to reduced charter rates and lower vessel utilisation rates.

The trust has suspended distributions to unitholders since the third quarter of the 2015 financial year in order to conserve cash.

Bumitama Agri

Palm oil producer Bumitama Agri reported a 39 per cent plunge in second quarter net profit to 107.6 billion rupiah (S$11 million), even as revenue slid 12.9 per cent to 1.38 trillion rupiah.

This was due to a lower average selling price of crude palm oil, and lower production output during the period. However, this was offset slightly by stronger biodiesel sales.

The company said in its exchange filing that palm oil prices will continue to be affected by the slowing global economy.

"After suffering from low production during the first half of this year due to severe drought last year, we expect our production to start to recover in the second half of this year."

Earnings per share for the quarter was 61 rupiah, down from 100 rupiah a year earlier. Net asset value per share was 3,273 rupiah as at June 30, up from 2,979 rupiah as at Dec 31 last year.

Cosco Corporation (Singapore)

The gloom continues for Chinese shipbuilder Cosco Corporation (Singapore), which reported a second quarter net loss of $36.8 million, due to losses in its shipyard and shipping operations. This follows a net loss of $4.8 million in the same period last year.

The sluggish marine engineering and shipping markets continued to weigh on revenue, which slid 11 per cent for the three months to June 30 to $762.9 million.

As at June 30, its order book stood at about US$7.6 billion with deliveries up to 2018.

Loss per share for the quarter was 1.64 cents, from a loss per share of 0.21 cent a year ago. Net asset value per share was 32.49 cents as at June 30, down from 36.71 cents as at Dec 31 last year.