James Fisher wins £35m China contract; sees FY in line

Marine services company James Fisher and Sons said full year earnings would be in line with expectations as it announced a new £35m diving contract with a Chinese company.

Reported revenue for the three months to 30 September period was “strongly ahead” year on year with organic growth supplemented by the benefit of two acquisitions and the weaker pound.

Sales in Fisher's marine support, specialist technical and tankships un its, were all ahead of last year. Within Marine Support, ship to ship transfers continued to be strong, the company said.

“Specialist Technical made good progress against its order book and is trading well despite delays in the award of new nuclear decommissioning work.
Offshore Oil revenue was 6% lower in the quarter but the division benefitted from a reduced cost base,” it added.

Fisher said the China contract was to supply a 24 man saturation diving system rated for diving support to depths of 500m with state-owned Shanghai Salvage.

The contract is for the design and build of two independent 12 man saturation dive systems for delivery in 2019, including diving bell, hyperbaric lifeboat, gas management and life support equipment.

"The systems can be deployed individually on vessels or installed together on board a dive support vessel. They will incorporate advanced state-of-the-art technology which will allow the safe conduct of 500m diving, which is significantly beyond the depth rating of the majority of standard diving systems," Fisher said.