Following a weak first quarter and due to poorer than expected results during the past months, Fugro has decided to disclose preliminary non-audited information on its performance in the first half of 2014.

Fugro expects to report over first half of 2014:
· Low single digit EBIT margin (excluding non-cash impairments). This compares to an EBIT margin of 11.4% in the same period last year, or 10.3% excluding special items[1].
· Non-cash impairments in a range of EUR 300-350 million.

Operational performance issues Q2 2014

After the weak first quarter, improvement in results during the past months has been lower than expected mainly for the following reasons.

The weakening of the oil and gas market, as a result of decelerating growth of capital spending, is resulting in project delays and increased margin pressure in all divisions.
The Geoscience division is the single largest contributor to the disappointing performance:
Losses in Seabed Geosolutions continued and are larger than anticipated due to underutilisation in the OBN market segment, and some delays on the mobilisation of two large OBC projects.
The weakened seismic market is resulting in much lower multi-client sales and consequently will lead to a significantly lower EBIT contribution than in the same period in 2013.
The improving trend in the Subsea Services division has been marred by two specific issues. The first is an engine room fire on the largest vessel in the fleet that resulted in a total of about 7 weeks of non-compensated down time. The second is an ongoing strike of 3 diving crews in Brazil which has had a 4 week impact in the quarter.
Impairments
The more challenging market outlook, combined with the disappointing developments in the first half-year 2014, have led Fugro to review the valuation of its assets. This is expected to result in non-cash impairments and one-off write-offs in a range of EUR 300-350 million. The majority of these impairments will be in Seabed Geosolutions and the multi-client library (both Geoscience division). In addition there will be smaller impairments in specific other parts of the business and some one-off write-offs.

The non-cash impairments will have no impact on EBITDA. Following last year’s multi-client data library accounting policy change, aimed at aligning with market practice, the book value of the multi-client library is presented as intangible asset rather than inventory. Therefore the amortisation of the database and its non-cash impairment also have no impact on EBITDA.

Paul van Riel, CEO: ‘The development of the results this year so far has been disappointing. During the last quarter it has become increasingly clear that the oil and gas market has weakened. As a consequence we will take impairments on some of our assets. The weakening of the market, in combination with some project execution issues, has impacted our performance. We are taking necessary measures to improve profitability, guided by our ‘Growth through Leadership’ strategy. We believe that the long term market fundamentals support our strategy, albeit that the expected growth will be somewhat slower than we originally assumed.’

media Arseus,

BRUSSEL (AFN) - De toeleverancier voor de medische sector Arseus zet zijn softwarepoot Corilus te koop. Dat schrijft de Belgische zakenkrant De Tijd vandaag op basis van meerdere ingewijden. Arseus is al langer bezig met een strategische heroriëntatie om zich te kunnen richten op zijn hoofddivisie Fagron. ,,We bekijken continu alle strategische opties. Voor de rest heb ik geen commentaar'', aldus financieel directeur Jan Peeters tegen de krant.