Better group performance offsets weak marine support results for James Fisher
Marine services group James Fisher saw annual revenues improve, although pre-tax profits were less buoyant.
The Cumbria-based business achieved sales of £617.1m in the 12 months to December 31, 2019, a 10% increase on the previous year’s revenues.
However, the statutory pre-tax profit of £47.8m was down on the prior year’s level of £55.4m.
The group reported an investment of £105m in capital and acquisitions during the year and has raised its total dividend by 10% to 34.7p per share.
Last week the business announced a four-year contract extension for its Austalian operations, worth around £35m.
Chief executive Eoghan O’Lionaird said today: “Following a strong second half, the group delivered a seven per cent increase in underlying operating profit in the full year.
“A strong recovery in our offshore oil division, further progress in tankships and a broadly similar year-on-year result in specialist technical, more than offset a weaker performance in marine support.
“With the offshore renewable energy sector continuing to grow robustly and the oil and gas market for our niche services recovering, the leading position held by a number of our businesses across a broad spread of services in diverse geographical locations underpins the board’s confidence in the group’s ability to provide continued growth in shareholder value.”
The Barrow-in-Furness group has operations throughout the North West including Bootle on Merseyside, Leyland in Lancashire, Manchester, Deeside, Warrington, Preston, and Egremont in the Lake District.
