SHIPPING firm Jasa Merin (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, which is 30 per cent owned by the Terengganu state government, said it has postponed plans to float the company on the stock exchange to 2009.
Jasa Merin director Datuk Mokhtar Nong, who is also Terengganu state secretary, said the flotation was initially planned for this year, but was shelved to meet the requirement to list on Bursa Malaysia's main board.
"We are already qualified to list directly on the second board this year, but have decided to wait for another year to list ourselves on the main board," he told Business Times during the launch of Jasa Meri's new Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessel at Muhibbah Marine Engineering Sdn Bhd shipyard in Port Klang last Thursday.
The remaining 70 per cent stake in the company is held by its management and staff.
Jasa Merin executive director Johan Zainuddin Dzulkifli declined to disclose the company's annual net profit and revenue, but that it has been growing by 20 per cent per year.
"We hope to do better this year, with the delivery of two new vessels (by Muhibbah Marine) and continuous high demand for offshore support vessels in the oil and gas sector," he added.
Jasa Merin currently operates a fleet of 11 vessels of which eight are owned and three are chartered-in. It has already ordered two more OSVs, worth some RM100 million, from Muhibbah Marine, which are due to be delivered by 2011.
"The plan is to buy at least two new vessels per year," said Johan.
It charters its vessels mostly to Petronas Carigali, ExxonMobil and Shell, which collectively accounts for 90 per cent of its business.
Earlier, the eighth of Jasa Merin's new OSVs supplied by Muhibbah Marine was launched by Mokhtar. The 59m long ship, named JM Seri Besut, was launched at 6.30pm to correspond to the most appropriate tides.
Muhibbah Marine will now commence the ship's sea trials and testing and the ship is expected to be commissioned into operational service by April this year.
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