RA International FY gross margins impacted by reduced revenues

Remote location services specialist RA International said on Wednesday that while full-year revenues were projected to be in line with internal expectations, a year-on-year reduction in the all-important metric had impacted gross margins.

RA International expects to report revenues for the year ended 31 December of approximately $54.0m and underlying earnings of roughly $7.0m as gross margins were also impacted by "the general inefficiencies" of operating under Covid-19, including travel restrictions, quarantine requirements and supply chain delays.

The AIM-listed firm highlighted that general and administrative costs increased by $2.0m in the year, reflecting the full-year impact of investment undertaken in 2020 to support anticipated growth.

RA International said its order book was sitting at $100.0m at the end of 2021, reflecting revenue drawdown in the period and ongoing delays connected to new contract wins and tenders, and added that it closed the year with $9.0m in cash on its balance sheet, resulting in "a modest net debt position" of $1.0m.

Chief executive Soraya Narfeldt said: "This has been a frustrating period, with client and Covid-19 related operating constraints continuing to cause inefficiencies and exceptional delays in executing projects, in tender issues, awards and in project mobilisations. This has impacted our profitability for the last six months of 2021 and also stalled our order book momentum.

"However, the underlying business has remained profitable through this disruption and our solid balance sheet supports our forward looking requirements."