Malaysia’s Nam Cheong has made a profit for the third quarter despite a huge decrease in revenue due to reduced shipbuilding revenue on strong industry headwinds.

The OSV builder posted a profit of MYR722,000 ($169,800) for the quarter ended 30 September 2016, up from the slim gain of MYR6,000 in the same period of last year.

The quarterly revenue plunged by 86% year-on-year to MYR25.83m due mainly to slower progressive recognition of revenue from vessels sold. The yard delivered only two ships over the first nine months of this year, compared to nine in the previous corresponding period.

The group’s orderbook as at 30 September 2016 was approximately MYR1.05bn comprising a mix of OSVs due for deliveries up until 2018.

From January to September 2016, however, Singapore-listed Nam Cheong sank to a loss of MYR36.39m as against the profit of MYR49.98m in the year-ago period.

“While the World Bank has projected energy prices, which include oil, natural gas and coal, to jump almost 25% overall next year, we remain cautious on the outlook as a recovery in capital spending may not emerge so soon,” commented Leong Seng Keat, group ceo of Nam Cheong.

“As such, we anticipate the progress of vessel sales and shipbuilding activities to remain slow moving into 2017,” he said.

In response to the challenging business environment, Nam Cheong has deferred the schedule of deliveries of its vessels currently under construction, both at customers’ requests and also at the group’s initiative.