Getech swings to a 'modest' interim profit following cost cutting efforts

Geoscience and geospatial products provider Getech said on Thursday that the Covid-19 pandemic's "deep impact" on energy prices had led it to lower costs, protect capital and explore new business opportunities.

First-half revenues were pegged to be down around 16% at £2.1m and forward sales were expected to have slipped 12.5% to roughly £1.4m.

However, Getech's narrowing of costs from £3.2m to £2.6m actually left the firm now expecting to report a "modest" underlying profit - a turnaround from the EBITDA loss of £100,000 recorded a year earlier.

Looking forward, the AIM-listed firm the business environment would remain "challenging" globally in the second half, with customer confidence remaining fragile, despite a significant, but partial, recovery in oil prices.

Chief executive Jonathan Copus said: "In H1 2020 the world faced business challenges of an unprecedented scale. The disruption that resulted has continued into H2 2020 and the timeline to its resolution is unclear.

"Faced with this, Getech has acted decisively: lowering costs, protecting capital, delivering our order book and exploring new business opportunities. Through these steps we expect to have delivered an EBITDA profit, replenished our order book and maintained our balance sheet strength."

As of 0945 BST, Getech shares were untraded at 12.50p.