James Fisher & Sons PLC (LON:FSJ) has upped its interim dividend by 10% after a strong set of half year results reported rises in both profits and revenue.
The FTSE 250-marine engineer reported an underlying pre-tax profit increase of 20% to £21.7mln during the period, while revenues climbed 12% to £260.5mln and the dividend was lifted to 10.3p from 9.4p previously.
READ: James Fisher & Sons sees “significant” contract wins for marine support division in early 2018
The group also reported revenue growth in the first half across all of its divisions, with marine support, specialist technical, offshore oil, and tankships all growing by 23%, 8%, 5%, and 5% respectively.
In its outlook for the second half, the firm said the period would benefit from momentum and contracts secured in the first half from its Marine Support division, adding that prospects for significant projects in its Specialist Technical division remained strong although the timing of awards remained “uncertain”.
Nick Henry, chief executive of James Fisher, said that the group had seen an “encouraging first half” and that the firm was continuing to track a number of acquisition prospects, adding that a “significant working capital unwind” was expected in the second half due to the successful delivery of a second submarine rescue vessel to the Indian Navy.