Strong performance of Fugro’s marine business, which includes offshore wind, helped it achieve a growth in revenue and an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin of nearly 9% in Q1.
In the marine business revenue grew by 13.8%, enabled by the expansion of the geotechnical fleet.
Ongoing significant growth in offshore wind projects resulted in 9% overall revenue growth for the whole group in Q1 2024.
Despite the “typically slow” first quarter, Fugro reported an 8.8% EBIT margin, driven by an overall strong marine performance, most notably in Europe-Africa, which included geotechnical survey work for Dogger Bank South for RWE and Masdar off the north-east coast of England and a geophysical unexploded ordnance identification and clearance project for TenneT on its 2GW offshore grid connection projects off Germany.
Overall, vessel utilisation was 65% versus 68% in the comparable period last year, due to scheduled maintenance and lower utilisation of the geophysical fleet.
Fugro CEO Mark Heine said: “The year 2024 is off to a good start. We are capturing a significant part of site characterisations in the offshore wind market, which continues to be buoyant as a result of the energy transition in numerous countries.
“Many governments are demonstrating their commitment to carbon reduction roadmaps, for example by responding swiftly to recent delays in several offshore wind projects by increasing prices for the energy that the owners of these developments generate.
“In this typically low winter season, we reported a strongly improved EBIT margin of 8.8% driven by an overall robust performance in marine, fuelled by excellent operational execution, operating leverage and improved terms and conditions; despite still increasing cost levels.”