OIL service company Nautronix says its prospects are good, despite the impact on the industry of last year’s huge oil spill in US waters.
The Aberdeen marine technology firm has just published its latest accounts, which saw a drop in profits in the financial year to June 30, 2011.
The pre-tax figure came in at just over £759,000 compared to £1.98million previously. Turnover was also down by more than £2million to £8.23million.
The directors’ report says the last financial year had started in difficult conditions, with the global downturn still creating some financial uncertainty plus the effect of the Macondo tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico.
They add that the incident and subsequent review of safety and environmental issues had an impact globally as oil companies slowed capital investment in equipment until revised safety and environmental regulations had been finalised.
The report says: “These issues directly affected Nautronix and, during this period, order intake suffered as operators and contractors slowed down spend in operating and capital expenditure. Towards the end of 2010, with the global markets and the climate for investment within the oil industry improving, Nautronix saw an increase in its order intake and backlog.”
Just last week, Nautronix said it had won an order worth about £2.5million from a US supplier of blowout preventers for its technology to be used on new ultra-deepwater drillships for Noble.
The latest order for acoustic control systems follows a recent deal, with a Norwegian firm, to supply hydro-acoustic positioning systems to the same drillships.
The directors say that, with the increase in orders, the group is recruiting staff and is investing in refurbishing and upgrading its headquarters for additional staff. They add: “With the increased activity in the market place, the company is well positioned to take advantage of increased orders and the prospects for the future are good.”
Nautronix, which is controlled by US private-equity house SCF Partners, had an average of nearly 70 employees in its last financial year.