James Fisher and Sons (FSJ) H1 2025 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Delivered a solid first half performance for 2025, with turnaround and business simplification initiatives driving structural improvements and positioning for growth.

• Focused on achieving a 10% underlying operating profit margin through supply chain integration, business improvement, and scaling key divisions.

• Order book increased 45% year-over-year to £315 million, reflecting strong demand and successful growth accelerators, especially in Defence.

• Strengthened balance sheet and leaner, more coherent company structure following disposals and cost reductions.

• Investing in new technology, product development, and targeted geographic expansion.

Financial highlights

• Revenue for 1H 2025 was £191.9m, steady on a like-for-like basis but down 13.4% reported due to disposals.

• Underlying operating profit up 14.4% to £11.1m like-for-like, with margin at 5.8% (up 80bps); unadjusted UOP fell 33.9%.

• Net debt (covenant basis) at £72.1m, Net Debt:EBITDA of 1.6x, slightly above target due to growth investments.

• Return on capital employed increased to 5.1% (up 20bps like-for-like).

• Net finance charge fell to £6.7m, reflecting benefits from debt reduction and refinancing.

Outlook and guidance

• Trading to end of August in line with expectations; full-year 2025 guidance unchanged despite macro uncertainty in energy markets.

• CapEx and development expenditure expected at £30–35 million for 2025; bank interest rate guidance at approximately 8.5%.

• Underlying effective tax rate for 2025 expected around 29%, with some impact from unrecognised losses.

• Second half expected to be seasonally stronger; focus remains on cost discipline and strategic priorities.

• Market conditions supportive but cautious outlook for oil and gas in H2 due to macroeconomic uncertainty.