Highlights:
Specialist Technical, Marine Support and Tankships performed well, increasing underlying operating profit by 15%
Offshore Oil significantly lower due to downturn in oil industry; swift action taken to mitigate impact
Further bolt-on acquisitions of Subtech, National Hyperbaric, Mojo Maritime and X-Subsea assets
Cash conversion strong at 96% (2014: 68%)
Interim dividend increased by 10% to 7.80p per share
Commenting on the results, Nick Henry, Chief Executive Officer said:
"As stated in the AGM update in April, the result in the first half is lower than 2014 in light of the anticipated challenges in our Offshore Oil division. Specialist Technical and Tankships performed well and Marine Support held its profit in line with last year.
We expect to see a stronger second half with good trading continuing in Specialist Technical and Tankships, reinforced by a resumption of growth in Marine Support. We continue to be well positioned on a number of significant contract bids across the Group. In Offshore Oil we have scaled our business to meet current conditions in the oil & gas sector.
Looking ahead, the Board believes that James Fisher continues to be well placed to provide good growth and value for its shareholders."
