24th Nov 2015 09:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Critical industrial services provider Cape PLC on Tuesday affirmed its expectations for 2015 despite continued challenging market conditions.
The company, which focuses on the energy and natural resources sectors, said its onshore UK and Australian businesses had performed well in the second half of 2015 to November 1, helped by lower-than-expected central costs. This has offset weakness for its UK offshore business and lower margins in its Middle East and North Africa unit.
In the UK, Europe and CIS region, Cape has seen weakened demand from the offshore sector, hitting volumes and putting pricing pressure on the business. The downstream and general industrial market remains strong, however, while project and maintenance volumes in its Azerbaijan business have been robust.
MENA project and maintenance volumes were solid, but project delays and shutdowns have resulted in some work due for the second half being pushed into 2016. Asia Pacific markets have been mixed, Cape said, with liquefied natural gas activity in Australia increasing and offsetting declining mining sector volumes.
Cape said it expects the tough conditions to continue in 2016, but said it remains confident on its long-term outlook and on meeting its earnings expectations for 2015.
Shares in Cape were down 0.7% to 256.8125 pence on Tuesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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