OSLO: Petrofac Training Ltd has posted a loss of the 2015 year to December as sales fell 27 per cent to £27.5 million. The Montrose-based company, which provides survival, firefighting, emergency management and general safety training as well as specialist consultancy services to the oil and gas industry, notes turnover was down last year across all geographical locations it has operations in.
The company, a subsidiary of Jersey-registered Petrofac Limited, said the slowdown in activity in the UK Continental Shelf has led to a “significant reduction in delegate throughput, particularly in non-essential training”. The company has posted a pre-tax loss of £407,000 for the 2015 year against a pre-tax profit of £2.60 million in 2014.
Petrofac Training said a £7.1 million reduction in costs, including a £2.1 million reduction in the wage and salary bill as a result of cost-cutting measures, “did not fully compensate for the year on year fall in revenue”.
Staff numbers dipped to 297 in the 2015 year, down from 330 in 2014 and staff costs were cut to £11.83 million from £13.90 million in 2014. By region, turnover in its largest market, Europe, fell 26 per cent year on year to £26.10 million (2014: £35.33 million).
Turnover was also down 53 per cent in Norway to £200,000, 33 per cent in the Americas to £374,000, 38 per cent in the Middle East to £620,000 and 37 per cent in Asia and Australia to £225,000. Around £3 million of the total reduction in revenues for the 2015 year was put down to lower pass-through revenues on its Training Management Solutions contracts and recharged costs.
As a result, the company posted an operating loss of £452,000 for the year, down from an operating profit of £2.58 million the prior year.