Gains from a one-off divestment of an Australian joint venture have helped Ezion Holdings more than double its first quarter profit from last year.

The oil and gas firm's profit for the three month period ended March 31 was US$46.2 million (S$56.8 million), significantly higher than last year's US$14.1 million.

Earlier in March, Ezion had announced it was disposing of its 33.3 per cent stake in Offshore Marine Services Alliance, an Australian joint venture, for A$35 million (S$44million).

The company had said the move would allow it to better position itself in the long term to continue its focus and support of liquid natural gas-related activities in Australia.

Ezion also saw an improvement in its revenue for the first quarter, moving up from US$30.6 million to US$54.8 million, an almost 80 per cent increase.

The rise was attributed to contributions from offshore logistic support services from two projects; the Queensland Curtis LNG project and the Australia Pacific LNG project.

The additional deployment of units from the group's rigs also contributed to the quarterly revenue growth.

Earnings per share were also up, rising from 1.89 US cents to 5.02 US cents. Net asset value per share was 70.02 US cents, as of March 31. No dividend has been declared for this quarter.