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Aviation services company John Menzies posted a fall in annual profit and suspended its dividend, as the global travel sector continued to be hammered by the spreading coronavirus.
Pre-tax profit from continuing operations for the year through December declined to £17.3m, down from £21.6m on-year, even as revenue rose to £1.33bn, up from £1.29bn.
The rise in sales was offset by restructuring costs.
'Looking into 2020 we are pleased with how we have right-sized the business during the second half of 2019 and given the otherwise underlying positive momentum of the business, the headwind presented by COVID-19 is very disappointing,' John Menzies said.
'The short term focus is on strengthening our balance sheet.'
'A number of measures, including reduction in capital expenditure and a clampdown on discretionary spend, are already in place and we will look to materially reduce our leverage position during the year.'
At 9:03am: (LON:MNZS) Menzies John PLC share price was -2.5p at 249.5p