Rolls-Royce marine division profits dive 90% in H1

Rolls-Royce said that its marine division made an underlying profit, before financing of GBP4m ($6.24m) in the first half of 2015, compared to GBP40m in the same period a year earlier. Underlying revenues in the first half were down 15% at GBP695m.

The company said it also took a non-underlying charge of GBP69m for impairment of goodwill due to the less favourable business environment.

Rolls-Royce is forecasting a profit of been zero and GBP40m for the year as a whole.

“We anticipate that the market will remain challenging in the short term, particularly in offshore. We will accelerate our cost reduction programmes, focusing on footprint, supply chain and overhead costs in order to drive a more competitive business while also adapting to volume risks,” the company said.

In May Rolls-Royce announced it was cutting 600 jobs in its marine division as part of a restructuring.