LONDON (ShareCast) - Contract wins and strong trading in offshore oil drove better-than-expected half-year results at specialist engineering services group James Fisher.

The group managed to beat forecasts despite currency headwinds reducing profit by around £1.5m, posting a 12% increase in pre-tax profit to £20.8m, up £2.2m from a year earlier. Revenue rose 8% from £200.7m to £216.1m.

Chief executive Nick Henry said: "James Fisher continued to trade well in the first half of 2014 despite an adverse currency backdrop.

"These results reflect the growing success of the group in winning significant new contract business both at home and overseas.

"The group is well-placed to provide further value for shareholders and to date is trading to management expectations."

Divisionally, offshore oil benefited from two major equipment sales, which together with a strong underlying performance lifted profit by more than 30%.

Specialist technical revenue climbed 22%, helping to lift profit from £3.7m to £4.5m.

Profit in the company's tank-ships business rose 12% to £1.9m, despite revenue sliding 12% on reduced capacity.

Profit in the marine support division declined from £9.4m to £7.7m after a slow start to the year, hit by lower market activity for ship-to-ship operations, particularly in South East Asia and Nigeria, but improving in the second quarter.

The division was the most affected by the strength of sterling against the US dollar.

Fisher increased the proposed interim dividend 10% to 7.10p.

Divex lands another major contract

The group also said subsidiary Divex had won a contract with Keppel Singmarine (KSM) to supply a saturation diving system for the BP Exploration Shah Deniz II project in the Caspian Sea.

The FTSE 250-listed group said the deal was "testament to the market leading design skills and technology which Divex possesses".

Broker Investec said the results were strong, reiterating its 'buy' rating and raising its forecasts for full-year earnings per share by 3% to 73.5p, reflecting a new pre-tax profit forecast of £46.8m, compared to £46.0m previously.

Shares had risen 3.1% to 1,397p by 08:53 on Wednesday.

NR

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