Bureau Veritas has upgraded its full-year financial forecast after a profitable first half year.
The French classification society expects the full year to deliver “mid-to-high single-digit organic revenue growth”.
The slight upgrade is a result of a healthy sales pipeline and significant growth opportunities related to sustainability, the company said.
The Paris-based company said net profit rose to €232.5m ($257.5m) in the first six months, up 3.2% from €225.2m in the first half of 2022.
Revenue rose 7.8% to €2.9bn.
Hinda Gharbi, who took over as chief executive officer in June, flagged strong organic revenue growth, resilient margin performance and very solid financial structure.
That reflected “the strength of our diversified and growing portfolio of activities and our global geographical footprint”, she said.
“This excellent performance and our confidence in the overall trends in our businesses for the coming months allows us to revise our topline growth outlook upwards,” Gharbi said.
Growth was driven across all geographies backed by good momentum on the sales pipeline, the company said.
Strong in marine
Bureau Veritas covers a wide variety of industries.
Its marine and offshore classification services represent around €228.6m of a total of nearly €2.9bn revenue in the first six months of the year.
The division logged an operating profit of €56.5m in the first six months, up 12% from the previous year.
That is a fraction of total group operating profit of €434.2m that the French testing, certification and inspection giant logged in the period.
Its marine & offshore business delivered ‘very strong’ 15.6% organic revenue growth in the first half.
New construction accounted for 39% of divisional revenue, reflecting a sold backlog of new orders.
The fleet classified by Bureau Veritas comprised 11,577 ships, representing 146.5m grt.
The company said two-thirds of its portfolio including its marine & offshore division delivered double-digit organic revenue growth in the first half.
The sector benefiting from strong decarbonization trends in marine & offshore and the rising demand for sustainability and ESG-driven services.
Bureau Veritas had €1.7bn in available cash and cash equivalents and €600m in undrawn committed credit lines on 30 June.
