Engineering group Worley has reported first-half earnings slumped by 61 per cent as customers delayed projects due to COVID-19.
Worley on Tuesday reported a net profit after tax of $60 million after revenue fell by 29 per cent.
Boss Chris Ashton said many customers deferred projects due to the pandemic.
This was particularly the case for Worley's biggest market by region, the Americas.
Yet Mr Ashton said talks with customers showed work on deferred projects, and long-term ones, were likely to resume in line with economic recovery.
The company provides services across the energy, chemicals and resources industries. The latter includes mining, minerals and metals.
The company says its diverse business will be important as industries and regions recover from the pandemic at different rates.
Worley has also talked up its prospects of winning more business from customers moving to renewable energy.
Sustainability projects accounted for about 30 per cent of first-half revenue.
Worley said its sustainability projects had a higher profit margin that its services usually had.
Some of its projects include a green hydrogen plant in the UK, and extracting useful chemicals from plastic waste such as drink containers.
In its outlook comments, Worley said second-half earnings were expected to better those of the first half due to contracts won.
Management has also reduced costs by reducing staff numbers.
The interim dividend of 25 cents per share, unfranked, was the same as the previous interim payout.
Shares were higher by 3.61 per cent to $10.92 at 1546 AEDT.
