James Fisher boosted by Asia Pacific success

Barrow-in-Furness marine services specialist James Fisher & Sons is reaping the rewards of the success of its operations in the Asia Pacific region and the launch of new a new market in Brazil for ship-to-shop oil transfer services.

In the six months to June 30, year-on-year revenue grew 13% to £235.8m (2016: £209.3m) and underlying pre-tax profit rose 6% to £18.6m (2016: £17.5m).

In March, the company strengthened its product offering to the offshore renewables sector with the acquisition of Rotos 360, a high technology specialist in the repair and reconditioning of wind turbine rotor blades.

“Profit in the second half is likely to benefit from the phasing of projects across our renewables businesses due to seasonal factors and across our offshore oil businesses due to some improvement in oil and gas sector demand,” a statement from the listed company said.

“We would therefore expect to see good growth from our marine support division. In offshore oil, orders in our Norwegian and our downhole equipment businesses have begun to show clear signs of recovery.

“Our Specialist Technical businesses continue to trade well despite some slowing in our nuclear decommissioning activities.

“Tankships maintain its good performance of recent years. Overall, we therefore expect to see stronger growth for the group in the second half leading to a good improvement in the result for the year.”