11th Mar 2021 11:39
(Alliance News) - Esken Ltd on Thursday said coronavirus hurt performance in its most recently ended financial year.
The infrastructure, aviation and energy company, which was formerly known as Stobart Group Ltd, said Covid-19 pandemic has created "unprecedented challenges" for the company and the aviation sector as a whole.
Lockdown restrictions curtailed much of the commercial passenger operations at Esken's London Southend airport during the year as evolving quarantine arrangements and late changes to travel corridors eroded passenger confidence when restrictions were lifted. As a result, just 147,000 passengers flew through London Southend airport in the year to the end of February, compared to 2.1 million in the prior year. Of those 147,000 passengers, Esken said 68,000 flew in March 2020 before the travel restrictions really took hold.
Turning to Stobart Aviation Services, Esken said it closed its operations in Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, which helped to manage costs and allow it to focus on operations at London Southend airport, London Stansted airport and Manchester airport.
Finally, Esken said lockdown restrictions that took place through November and from late December onward have not inhibited the construction industry in the same way that the March 2020 lockdown did. As a result, the availability of waste wood has been uninterrupted since the end of that first lockdown and so operations at its Stobart Energy division have continued. The company noted that the demand for waste wood supply has remained particularly high as a range of end users re-stocking.
"We have continued to deliver against the strategy we set out at the time of our capital raise in June 2020 despite the business interruption caused by Covid-19 extending far beyond all reasonable expectations at that time," said Executive Chair David Shearer.
Esken's "strict financial discipline" has resulted in it having GBP77.4 million of cash and undrawn bank facilities available at the end of February. The cash burn for the company, excluding Stobart Air and Propius, was GBP9.4 million for the six months to February 28. Esken noted that it remains committed to exiting Stobart Air and Propius in the near term.
"We continue to maintain strict financial discipline. This has allowed us to minimise cash burn and protect our liquidity position," continued Shearer. "This discipline, coupled with the depth of operational talent within our businesses, will allow us to protect the value of our core assets and navigate the recovery as vaccine programmes are rolled out across Europe and activity levels recover."
Esken shares were trading flat in London on Thursday at 34.00 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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