James Fisher and Sons plc full year results for the year ended 31 December 2021

James Fisher and Sons plc (FSJ.L) ('James Fisher', 'the Group'), the leading marine service provider, announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2021.

* excludes separately disclosed items of £48.7m loss (2020: £84.0m loss)
** excludes separately disclosed items of £37.8m loss (2020: £81.6m loss)

Performance summary:

• Challenging year, with revenue 4.7% lower at £494.1m and underlying operating profit 30.9% lower at £28.0m. Loss before tax was £29.0m (2020: £52.5m)
• Disruption to the business from the ongoing global pandemic, markets not recovering at expected rates, and an underestimation of the headwinds faced by some of the businesses
• UK lockdown affected H1; project delays and provisions further affected H2
• Further provisions required against asset carrying values due to prolonged impact of reduced profitability
• Good strategic progress, creating the foundations for sustainable profitable growth:

   o   Significant contract wins in EDS (> £40m over the next 15 years) further validate our renewables value proposition

   o   Sale of the Paladin dive support vessel and two businesses generated cash proceeds of c.£20m

   o   Swordfish dive support vessel on hire for 2022

• Good access to banking facilities, with £287.5m in total and £200m through to at least 2024

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Officer, Eoghan O'Lionaird, said:

"2021 was a challenging and disappointing year for the Group. We experienced ongoing disruption from the global pandemic, our markets did not recover at expected rates, and we underestimated the headwinds faced by some of our businesses.

In June 2021, we outlined a roadmap to achieve our objective of greater than 10% operating profit margin and greater than 15% return on capital employed.  This roadmap is based on three phases: "Reset, Reinforce and Realise". Throughout the year we continued to execute the Reset and Reinforce phases to create the foundations for sustainable profitable growth. 

Having sold Paladin and two of our businesses, during 2022 we will continue to optimise our portfolio to focus on businesses where we have a competitive advantage, strong growth prospects and attractive returns.  The internal change agenda will continue at pace. We are executing several self-help initiatives, focusing on operational and commercial excellence, including a LEAN programme, to improve the underlying performance of the Group.

Performance in January and February 2022 was in line with management's expectations. The full year outcome will be influenced by ship-to-ship transfer business performance; JFD securing new project wins from its pipeline; the strength of our subsea business during the busy mid-year period, our ability to manage inflationary pressures on the cost base; and the uncertainty arising from the current geopolitical environment.

The Board remains confident in the Group's strategy to deliver sustainable profitable growth from the significant market opportunities that are available to it and remains committed to executing on its long-term strategy."

For further information:

Notes:

1.     James Fisher uses alternative performance measures (APMs) as key financial indicators to assess the underlying performance of the business.  APMs are used by management as they are considered to better reflect business performance and provide useful additional information.  APMs include underlying operating profit, underlying profit before tax, underlying diluted earnings per share, underlying return on capital employed and cash conversion.  An explanation of APMs is set out in note 2 in the full year results.

2.     Cautionary statement: This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the operations, performance and financial condition of the Group. By their nature, these statements involve uncertainty since future events and circumstances can cause results and developments to differ materially from those anticipated. The forward-looking statements reflect knowledge and information available at the date of preparation of this announcement and James Fisher and Sons plc undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Nothing in this statement should be construed as a profit forecast.

Full year results for the year ended 31 December 2021

For the full James Fisher results announcement, please read the financial release:

 James Fisher and Sons plc: Full year results for the year ended 31 December 2021