A slump in demand for North Sea offshore flights has hit Bristow Helicopter’s bottom line although sales were underpinned by its contract to run emergency search and rescue (SAR) services for the British government.
The firm’s pre-tax profits for the year slumped dramatically – down from £91million to just £8.2million in the year to the end of March 2015.
However, the profit figures for 2014 were flattered by the firm booking £68.2million on the sale of its share in a joint venture. Bristow sold its stake in pilot training and support division FB Heliservices. Bristow Helicopters managing director Mike Imlach said the sale to partner Cobham freed up cash to “redeploy” in its core offshore helicopter transport and civilian SAR services.
Instead the company pointed to its underlying gross profit, up 26% to £29million, which “demonstrate Bristow’s ability to uphold the value of its services in light of a challenging and evolving regulatory environment”, the company said.
Last year Bristow announced plans to cut 130 jobs from its UK staff of 1,950 in an effort to slash costs.
A spokeswoman from Bristow said: “The difference when comparing the most recent results from year ending March 2015 to the year ending March 2014 can be explained by two key items: the results from year ending March 2014 contained exceptional gains on disposals of investments and fixed assets, and secondly the significant movements in the US dollar to GBP foreign exchange rate.
“For the year ending March 2016, like other operators, we continue to see decreased demand for aviation services by our oil and gas clients during this downturn. We are taking pro-active measures to reduce costs.”
Bristow’s income for the year rose after it was awarded the 10-year, £1.6billion UK SAR contract by the Department for Transport in March 2013.
Turnover at the firm grew 5% to £334.8million.
The accounts showed the number of employees also rose from 918 to 1,132 in the period. In November, the firm’s Houston-based parent company Bristow Group said it was 20% through plans to cut £100million from its costs.
Jonathan Baliff, the firm’s president and chief executive, said the loss-making group had deferred a further £68million in spending initially planned for 2016 and had secured a £135million loan to “provide additional liquidity in light of this downturn”.
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