Keppel Offshore & Marine has logged an annual profit for the first time since 2016 and is growing its workforce to further improve its performance this year.

Chief executive officer Loh Chin Hua described the shipbuilding, repair and conversion division’s SGD 10m ($7.4m) net profit for 2019 as “a significant improvement” over the SGD 109m loss reported in the 2018 financial year.