LONDON (ShareCast) - Marine services company James Fisher and Sons reported good revenue growth for the period from 1 July to date, compared to a year ago.
According to the report, Fisher's offshore oil business performed well throughout the quarter, driven by continued growth in Africa, South America and the Far East, offsetting weaker trading in the firm's Norwegian operations.

The group said that the recent decline in the oil price has not impacted trading in its offshore oil arm and expects the unit to experience "significant uplift".

In marine support, Fisher saw ship-to-ship transfer volumes slow in the third quarter, following a stark improvement in the second quarter. The Far East arm reflected a particularly slow market, caused by unfavourable economic conditions in the region, along with high inventory levels of oil in storage afloat and onshore.

Moreover, the company reported that its specialist technical business continued to trade strongly in the third quarter. Management believe this department is well positioned for future growth, given the addition of a large and more diverse order taken for nuclear decommissioning.

"Overall, James Fisher's strategy of focusing on niche businesses within developing marine service markets is producing good growth over last year and this is expected to continue through the final quarter," it said.

Broker Investec was positive on the results and left its forecasts unchanged.

"James Fisher continues to deliver a consistent and robust message with no changes to forecasts and, despite some turmoil in oil markets (with prices falling), we expect the group to deliver good earnings growth in financial year 2014."

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