March 14 - Royal Boskalis Westminster reported record revenues of EUR3.1 billion (USD4.02 billion) for financial year 2012 - up 10 percent year-on-year over 2011.

However overall earnings failed to show similar gains at the Dutch dredging and marine contractor. Net profit marginally fell by 1.6 percent year-on-year to EUR254 million (USD329 million).

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation) fell 7.9 percent to EUR568 million (USD735.7 million), whilst operating profit for FY2012 fell by 4.8 percentage points to EUR337 million (USD436.5 million).
 
Boskalis attributed the declines to lower demand for its dredging services although it claimed that demand for its offshore energy services remained stable, whilst towing and salvage activities experienced a slightly higher operating result.
 
The Boskalis order book increased to EUR4.1 billion (USD5.31 billion) at the end of 2012, from EUR3.49 billion (USD4.52 billion) at year-end 2011.
 
Boskalis has also secured 99 percent of the shares in semi-submersible heavy lift specialist Dockwise. Settlement will take place on March 20, 2013. Delisting of Dockwise shares from Euronext Amsterdam will occur on April 12, 2013.
 
Peter Berdowski, ceo, Boskalis, commented: "Despite the challenging market conditions we look back on a fine year in which we took major steps in further strengthening and expanding the company.
 
"2012 was a year in which a broad recovery of the global economy failed to materialize. Against that background we turned in a good performance with record revenue and an all-time high order book of EUR4.1 billion, evenly spread across all our activities," he added.
 
"Furthermore 2013 will revolve around the integration and consolidation of Dockwise," he added.
 
Looking ahead, Berdowski noted: "No material change is expected in market conditions in 2013, with volumes and margins remaining under pressure."


www.boskalis.com
www.dockwise.com