Fugro, a geo-data firm, has reduced its workforce and shifted business models as the US weighs in.

Dutch geological data specialist Fugro announced it would reduce more jobs and focus on different business segments, after confirming Thursday a decline in revenue for the first quarter. The drop was caused by a slowdown in U.S. off-shore wind projects.

The company also pointed to a volatile global market.

In the first quarter of 2018, sales fell 11.1% on an annual basis to 450 millions euros ($510.12million), in line with an earnings warning issued earlier in the month.

We expect these market uncertainties to continue into the second quarter. Mark Heine, group CEO, said that the immediate priority was to continue implementing measures designed to protect profitability and cash flow.

Fugro, a provider of geotechnical and survey services, as well as subsea, geosciences, and subsea exploration, reported a first-quarter profit growth of only 0.2%, compared to the 5.8% expected by analysts, according to an internal consensus before the profit warning.

However, the group maintained its EBIT margin of between 11% and 15% as it cut costs and redeployed capacity to other regions such as South America, Middle East and business segments.

Mark Heine, the group's CEO, told journalists that the company plans to continue to be active in the U.S. and expand its market share in critical minerals. It also intends to stay involved in other industries such as data centres and oil and gas in the U.S.

Fugro announced earlier this month that it had begun reducing its U.S. staff and scaling back its operations after warning of its sales and earnings being below earlier forecasts due to volatile markets and the lack of new U.S. offshore wind projects.

Heine stated that further layoffs will be expected in the U.S. where the company employs over 2000 people and the Middle East.

Heine stated that Fugro 'is not counting on any work' (in U.S. off-shore wind) in this year. He added that the segment represents about 7% of overall revenue. ($1 = 0.8821 euro) (Reporting and editing by Christopher Cushing; Eileen Soreng, Kim Coghill, and Alban Kacher)

(source: Reuters)