City round-up: James Cropper; James Fisher
Isabelle Maddock has resigned as chief financial officer with Kendal-based paper and packaging business James Cropper with immediate effect.
Andrew Goody has been appointed as chief financial and operations officer and is expected to join the company and the board of directors this coming autumn after serving a period of notice with current employer, Bibby Marine.
Isabelle Maddock said: “It has been a privilege to be CFO of James Cropper over the last nine years and to have been instrumental in navigating the company through many challenging years whilst shaping where we focus and grow. James Cropper has a hugely bright future and is well positioned to create long term value for its shareholders.”
CEO, Steve Adams, said: “Isabelle joined the group in 2006, has been CFO since 2014, and has been a valued member of the board and leadership team throughout her years of service to James Cropper.
“Isabelle has played an important role in protecting the business through challenging times, including the COVID pandemic, as well as creating the financial strength and discipline that will enable James Cropper to continue to deliver the ambitious growth strategy. I want to personally thank Isabelle for her hard work and dedication during this period, and I wish her all the very best for the future.”
Andrew Goody has more than 20 years’ experience as a finance director across a variety of sectors. He is currently the finance director for Bibby Marine and previously worked at Garic, Bibby Group’s plant hire business, during which time the business saw revenue growth of 80% and more than doubled EBITDA.
Prior to Liverpool-based Bibby, Andrew worked as finance director for TJ Hughes. He spent the early years of his career and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. He has a proven track record in developing and delivering successful investment strategies as well as improving working capital. He has extensive financial, commercial, M&A and business transformation experience.
Steve Adams said: “Andrew’s extensive experience in financial, commercial and business transformation will be a great addition to the senior team as James Cropper delivers on its growth strategy.”
Mr Goody said: “I’m really pleased to be joining James Cropper and look forward to working with the team to build upon the strong foundations in place as it delivers on its exciting strategy for accelerated revenue and profit growth.”
In April this year Cropper announced that it expects to cut jobs, rebrand the business, invest in new systems, and its results will be delayed because new auditors have been appointed.
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James Fisher Group
James Fisher, the Cumbrian marine engineering group, said trading in its current financial year has started well, and all its three divisions are generating solid year-on-year growth in both revenue and underlying profit.
The company issued a trading update for the five months to May 31, 2023, ahead of its annual general meeting later this morning.
The Energy division has continued its strong momentum in the artificial lift technology, well-testing and bubble curtains businesses. New bubble curtain projects have been won on the East Coast of the USA, an important and growing market opportunity for the group.
This is further demonstration of the group’s strength in developing new and differentiated products and services and playing an active part in the energy transition, it said. Having secured two vessels on seasonal charters, the subsea projects businesses have a good pipeline of work for the busy summer months ahead in the North Sea.
After a challenging 2022, the Defence business is showing improved performance, despite some changes to the timing of certain submarine rescue contract services. Sales of diving equipment are ahead of last year, consistent with the increased activity that the group is seeing in its own subsea businesses. The sales pipeline remains robust and Fisher is confident in securing new projects in the second half.
The Maritime Transport division continues to see high utilisation of its tankers and the addition of the Sir John Fisher and Lady Maria Fisher dual fuel vessels to the fleet has been welcomed by customers. Ship-to-ship (STS) transfer activity has remained stable and the group has secured one additional retainer agreement for its Liquified Natural Gas STS services.
Net borrowings, as expected, increased in the period. This is in part due to the costs of refinancing the group’s borrowing facilities, a new £210m secured revolving credit facility, which matures in March 2025, provided by its six existing lenders, together with the normal seasonal working capital outflow in the period.
The group expects to show progress in reducing its overall borrowing position in the second half of the year in line with its usual trading profile and the continuing focus on deleveraging the balance sheet as previously indicated.
In a pre-AGM statement, the group said: “The year has started well, with good momentum across the group’s three divisions and trading in the period was slightly ahead of the board’s expectations. Looking ahead, although there remains uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment, the group’s markets remain resilient and the board’s outlook for the full year remains unchanged.”
