| UK. Lloyd’s Register reports Group income rise of 14% 2005-06 |
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| Friday, 27 October 2006 | |
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Company news: In his report on the accounts for the year ended June 30, 2006, David Moorhouse, Chairman of Lloyd’s Register, has announced that Group income rose by 14% to £425 million. Over the last six years, annual income growth has averaged 6.5% with good performance in all business areas. “The last 12 months have been very successful for us, building on our consistently positive performance in recent years. We set ourselves demanding targets for revenue growth, both organic and through acquisition and I am pleased to report that we have met those objectives,” Mr Moorhouse said. “This performance has enabled us to continue our strong funding of engineering education, research and development and in training, part of our overall mission. We channelled £6 million through the Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust to a number of new programmes, as well as continuing our support for ongoing activities.” During the year Lloyd’s Register acquisitions included Ødegaard & Danneskiold-Samsøe A/S, a world renowned Danish noise and vibration specialist; the Houston-based Capstone Engineering Services, Inc. and Capstone Software Systems Inc., together a world leader in risk-based inspection (RBI) software and consultancy; and BSL, a German transport management consultancy. Since the end of the financial year Lloyd’s Register has also acquired NedTrain Consulting, the rolling stock engineering consultancy division of the Netherlands State Railways. “These acquisitions help us fulfil our constitutional objective to enhance the safety of people and property around the world in industries and with services where we can really make a difference,” Mr Moorhouse said. Business highlights The Group’s Marine business, which accounts for around 50% of Lloyd’s Register’s total income, grew its revenues by more than 15%. Over 11 million gross tonnes (gt) came into Lloyd’s Register class, comprising nearly 700 ships and the classed fleet, at more than 127 million gt at the end of June and now at more than 129 million gt, continues to be at an all-time high. In Korea, the world’s leading shipbuilding nation, the Marine business won more than 25% by gross tonnage of all new building orders. Lloyd’s Register also won the contract for the Qmax liquefied natural gas carriers, the largest gas carriers to be ordered to date, consolidating its position as the market leader for the classification of LNG ships, and in the UK the Group won a major contract for survey work for three nuclear submarines under construction, making Lloyd’s Register the first classification society to be involved with nuclear submarines. The Group has also focused on safety and the environment, with initiatives to improve port state control performance in the Lloyd’s Register-classed fleet and flag state quality. During the year Lloyd’s Register consolidated its collaborative relationship with the University of Southampton and announced plans to relocate its London Marine operations and London-based global Marine business specialists to new offices to be built on the University’s Boldrewood Campus by the end of 2009. The Group has also started work on the establishment of ship research and development facilities in Korea, Japan and China. The Group’s management systems business, LRQA, which accounts for around a quarter of Group income, reported a 10% increase in revenue. In Europe LRQA has been supporting businesses impacted by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. Across Asia, LRQA has supported projects falling within the scope of the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation. Reflecting its commitment to providing clients with services that enable them to derive maximum benefit from their systems, LRQA introduced ‘business assurance’, a new, dynamic approach to the independent assessment of management systems. Lloyd’s Register’s Oil & Gas business, accounting for around 10% of Group income, saw revenues rise by more than 30%. The Group enhanced its service capabilities in Singapore, Malaysia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas and its ability to deliver services locally in support of global projects was critical to its success. The Group’s work on floating offshore installations included contracts with Talisman in the North Sea and projects for various clients in Asia, such as Bumi Armada in Malaysia and Woodside in Australia. The Group’s Industry business, which accounts for about 10% of revenue, saw income rise by 6%. Our in-service inspection business continued to grow as did asset management services. The Industry business had a particularly successful year in Asia with a year-on-year growth of 20%. Significant orders for port-side crane inspection services were secured in China, Singapore and Korea. In Rail, which accounts for about 5% of income, revenues grew by 12% and the focus has been on growth, largely through the acquisition of companies in Germany and Australia, and diversification. “We believe we now offer an unrivalled combination of geographic coverage and services in rolling stock, infrastructure, management consultancy and risk management,” Mr Moorhouse said. During the year the Rail business won the contract to provide reliability, availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS) assurance services to the prestigious $245m Palm Jumeirah monorail project in Dubai. It was also appointed as the safety case authors and RAMS specialists to Hitachi for the UK’s Channel Tunnel Rail Link domestic stock project. |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 27 October 2006 ) |
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