James Fisher and Sons (FSJ) may have seen its sales increase by 4 per cent in the six months to 30 June (stripping out currency movements and the impact of acquisitions), but its underlying operating profit remained flat at £24.5m. This came as earnings growth in the higher-margin offshore oil and tankships segments was offset by a slow start in the group’s largest division, marine support.
Accounting for half of group revenue, marine support saw a weaker first quarter in ship-to-ship services, especially in Brazil, exacerbated by tepid demand in South Africa and provisions on contracts and doubtful debt. So, although the addition of safety and calibration specialist Martek helped boost sales to £144m, a 3.9 percentage point margin contraction meant this translated to just £6.6m in underlying operating profit – a 39 per cent drop.
The group continues to win new work, including a £30m order to deliver a third-generation deep search and rescue vehicle to the South Korean Navy in 2021. Meanwhile, £52.2m was put towards acquisitions and capital investment, including the purchase of a dive support vessel to enter the West African saturation diving market and another bought for £17.4m post-period.
Investec expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £59.4m and EPS of 92.6p for the full year, rising to £64.1m and 100p in 2020.
| JAMES FISHER (FSJ) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 2,025p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.02bn | |
| TOUCH: | 2,020-2,035p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,280p | LOW: 1,568p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.6% | PE RATIO: | 23 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 614p* | NET DEBT: | 52%** | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2018 | 261 | 21.5 | 34.7 | 10.3 |
| 2019 | 287 | 20.9 | 33.8 | 11.3 |
| % change | +10 | -3 | -3 | +10 |
| Ex-div: | 3 Oct | |||
| Payment: | 1 Nov | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £213m, or 422p a share, **Excludes lease liabilities of £31.1m | ||||
