Offshore foundations manufacturer Sif reported a small drop in profitability in the first half of 2020.
The business achieved EBITDA of €11.5m compared to €12.7m in the first half of 2019.
The directors said that low utilisation, sickness leave and delays in final deliveries put pressure on both revenue recognition and EBITDA.
CEO Fred van Beers said: “The COVID-19 outbreak had its impact on Sif which is reflected in higher sickness leave in mainly March and April of the year.
“This directly relates to our policy to aggressively quarantaine teams in case of suspicion of Covid related contacts.
“It is also reflected in workload, production and deliveries since smaller projects were shelved by clients and project hand-overs were delayed but still within contractual delivery dates.”
This included the disappearance from its order books of Vineyard Wind in the United States, which has been delayed due to additional an environment impact study being carried out.
“The production in the first half of 2020 is now mainly composed of activities for Akita Noshiro and Saint Nazaire, two projects that partly replace the Vineyard project”, van Beers added.
“Total production for the first half of 2020 ended at 76Kton. Despite personnel issues related to the COVID19 outbreak, realised contribution of €602 per ton was notably better than in the first half of 2019 when it was €484.
“This confirms our earlier communicated expectations for contribution margins in the low 600’s.”