SAILING THE SEAS OF SUCCESS - Swissco Holdings Limited

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
I take great pleasure to present to you the first Annual Report of our Company for the financial year
ended 31 December 2004 (“FY04”) since its incorporation on 29 January 2004. This is also my
first Annual Report that I am presenting to you as Chairman of the Swissco Group of Companies
(“the Group”).
Corporate Milestone
Our Group achieved a significant milestone in its corporate history in FY04. On
3 November 2004, we launched our Initial Public Offer (IPO) of 45 million shares. The
response from the public was excellent and we succeeded to raise twelve (12) million
dollars (including the sale of Vendor’s shares). The shares were officially traded on the
Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited Dealing and Automated Quotation
System (SGX-SESDAQ) on 16 November 2004. As disclosed in the IPO Prospectus,
a significant amount of the proceeds received by the Company would be used to
partially finance the acquisition of vessels in line with our fleet expansion plan and
expected to be delivered to us in FY05.
Personally, it is a gratifying year for me too. After 34 years since I founded the business,
I saw the Group attaining its new status of a listed company and in the process,
transforming itself from being a family run business to a professionally managed
corporation. I am confident that the Group would grow from strength to strength in
the years ahead.
Business Review
I am pleased to report that for FY04, we continue to maintain our profitable
performance albeit on lower turnover and profits. The drop in turnover is attributable
to the lower charter income caused by fewer vessels in operations. Because of the
buoyant marine and oil and gas industries, the demand for our vessels in the used
tonnage market was robust. We therefore took the opportunity to dispose of our older
vessels which are being replaced by new tonnages currently on order.
The Group’s lower turnover and profits came from our marine logistics support
business to the maritime and oil and gas industries. As we had fewer vessels to offer to
our customers, we had to charter in third party vessels which eroded our gross profit
margins. However, the gains made from the disposal of vessels compensated for the
lower gross margins.
I would like to take the opportunity to elaborate on the role of our associated
companies within the Group. Our associated companies engage in ship chartering
and ship engineering services in the oil and gas industry in certain geographical
segment. They utilise third party vessels as well as our vessels in their operations.
Hence, in reviewing the Group’s overall performance, cognizance should be given to
their contribution in complementing the performance of our marine logistics support
business.
SWISSCO INTERNATIONAL LIMITED_2