FUGRO has announced it plans to reduce its workforce by up to 10%.
The Dutch geo-data services firm said it was “to mitigate the impact of the sudden and unprecedented deterioration in market circumstances”.
The company employs more than 600 people in Aberdeen, where its remote operations centre is based. But has a total workforce of around 10,000 people across 61 countries.
Fugro said it would “rationalise” its geographical footprint, as well as putting in place a hiring and salary freeze, cutting executive pay, lowering capex and scaling back on short-term charters.
Mark Heine, Fugro chief executive officer, said: “In the past weeks, the Covid-19 pandemic has taken hold around the world and affected all of us in one way or another. Our priorities are clear: preserve the health and well-being of our staff and other stakeholders, ensure business continuity and reduce costs and capex to protect liquidity and profitability.”
Releasing its Q1 results, Fugro said its revenue was still in line with last year, with growth in Asia Pacific, but decreases in the other regions, especially Europe-Africa.
First quarter revenues totalled £311m, up 0.8% year on year, though adjusted ebitda was halved, to £6.2m.
The company said it had “good” liquidity with around £350m in available cash.
Mr Heine added: “We are taking decisive and immediate action by implementing a programme to significantly reduce costs and capital expenditure.
“As it is impossible to forecast the duration of the current crisis and the magnitude of its impact, we cannot provide a meaningful outlook for 2020.
“We have several scenarios worked out, we will continue to monitor the situation closely, and decide on additional measures when needed.”
‘
