PARIS—Bourbon SA, owner of the world’s biggest fleet of supply ships for deep-water oil exploration, said 2007 profit more than doubled after the sale of assets.

Net income rose to € 390.8 million ($598 million) from €152.9 million the previous year, Bourbon said in an e-mailed statement. That included a gain from asset sales of € 229 million. Revenue rose 27 percent to € 769.7 million.

“Market prospects are favorable in the offshore and bulk divisions due to oil-company investment and expected high bulk-freight rates,” the statement said. Paris-based Bourbon said results will be “influenced” by the dollar-euro exchange rate.

Chief executive officer Jacques de Chateauvieux has benefited from a boom in deep-water oil exploration, driven by record-oil prices, as well as higher bulk-transport rates. The company remains vulnerable to currency fluctuations since both industries are dollar-based. Bourbon’s clients include Exxon Mobil Corp. Chevron Corp., BP Plc. and Total SA.

For the offshore division, the company’s largest by sales, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose 10 percent to € 14.9 million.

The unit’s margin was eroded by a weaker dollar and higher personnel and maintenance costs, Bourbon said.

At the bulk-transport division, ebitda rose to €89.3 million from €38.9 million. Bourbon said proceeds from the year-end sale of the Nantor bulk carrier were €22.9 million.

Bourbon’s investment rose to €668 million last year compared to €438.1 million in 2006, the company said.

The company last month unveiled plans to increase sales by an average of 17-percent annually during the next five years and expand its fleet.

Bourbon announced in July a plan to sell its port-towing business to Madrid-based Grupo Boluda. It also sold its remaining 30-percent stake in Vindemia, which owns shopping malls and supermarkets in the Indian Ocean region, as well as sugar assets in Vietnam.

The company was founded in 1948 by sugar plantation-owning families based on Reunion, the French island east of Madagascar. (Bloomberg)

Firms to help upgrade maritime courses

CREWING agencies plan to encourage maritime schools to upgrade their educational standards, helping produce better graduates and assisting unfit students to shift to other careers.

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) will request the assistance of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to help implement a program allowing importers to clear their goods half-an- hour upon arrival at the country's terminals.

NAGASAKI—Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan’s third-largest shipyard, aims to more than double earnings from its shipbuilding operations next fiscal year, helped by demand for vessels to carry goods to and from China.

PARIS—Bourbon SA, owner of the world’s biggest fleet of supply ships for deep-water oil exploration, said 2007 profit more than doubled after the sale of assets.