Fugro Cuts Jobs and Scales Back US Operations

Dutch geodata firm Fugro on Tuesday said it started reducing its U.S. workforce and scaling back operations there after warning its sales and earnings would miss earlier forecasts because of volatile markets and lack of new U.S offshore wind projects.

The company, which provides geotechnical, survey, subsea and geosciences services, said it has already divested assets and cut more than 100 jobs in the United States because of deteriorating market environment, group CEO Mark Heine told reporters.

"The shift in the U.S. political landscape has led to a pause in new offshore wind projects. Furthermore, the highly volatile market environment is now impacting Fugro’s business in other regions as well," the company said in a statement.

"We see some scope reductions of projects and award decisions taking longer, exacerbating the typically slow start to the year," it said.

(Reuters - Reporting by Alban Kacher and Anna Peverieri; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)