Covid-19 restrictions dent revenue at James Fisher

Marine services company James Fisher & Sons reported a decline in revenue on Friday as it said trading in the third quarter remained challenging due to Covid-related restrictions.

The company said the improvement to trading conditions and the seasonal uplift it had been anticipating at the half-year results did not materialise. As a result, revenue for the nine months to the end of September fell 17% from the same period a year ago.

James Fisher now expects underlying operating profit for the full year, before separately disclosed items, to be between £35m and £40m.

"Due in large part to Covid-19 restrictions, especially in the UK, the Middle East and southern Africa, revenue in Marine Support continued to be impacted by project delays and cancellations in subsea projects in both Renewables and Oil & Gas," it said.

"In response a further restructuring programme has been implemented in Marine Support and the carrying value of the asset base is under review."

However, the group said its performance in other areas was resilient. Within Marine Support, ship-to-ship traded in line with its expectations. In Specialist Technical, good progress was made on approval and testing milestones on the supply of six swimmer delivery vehicles and separately a 500-metre saturation diving system.

Offshore Oil also remained resilient in Q3, performing in line with management expectations, while Tankships improved month-on-month following a sharp drop in utilisation in April due to lockdown.

"The group is diversified geographically and by end market and continues to be resilient and profitable in the most challenging of market conditions," it said. "Swift actions taken to reduce costs and to improve liquidity, position James Fisher for an improvement in market conditions and the group remains well placed to deliver future growth for its shareholders."