Defence and engineering giant Babcock International Group has stressed it is continuing to carry out vital defence work at its dockyard sites in England and Scotland despite the coronavirus lockdown.
The company said it has been in important talks with the Government to ensure crucial defence contracts don’t become delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak.
In Plymouth it has sent some of its 5,500-strong workforce home but stressed employees engaged in defence work are still in action at Devonport Dockyard.
It means staff working on projects such as maintenance of nuclear submarines, are still at their posts at the yard.
Staff at HMNB Clyde and Rosyth, in Scotland, are also working on essential defence contracts.
But the company stressed it is working with unions to ensure all staff remain safe during the COVID-19 contagion.
Mike Homer, managing director at Devonport Royal Dockyard, said: “Babcock has been working closely with the 海角视频 Government to confirm its requirement for ongoing support on the critical defence programmes required to sustain the safety and security of the country during the current COVID-19 crisis.
“The vital services we are required to provide to the Royal Navy include; the essential maintenance of submarines to support the Continuous-at-Sea Deterrent (CASD), support for both the surface fleet and submarine operational platforms, defence communications and critical Royal Navy training.
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“The Government recognises that to ensure these vital programmes continue uninterrupted, a proportion of Babcock’s workforce need to continue to perform their roles on-site.
“In practice, this means that teams are needed at Devonport Royal Dockyard, HMNB Clyde and Rosyth to ensure the safe and secure delivery of these key priorities, and to maintain the sites in a safe and secure manner.
“The safety and wellbeing of our people is paramount. We are working closely with our customer to continue to deliver the support they need to keep critical services operational, whilst also working closely with our trade union colleagues implementing additional measures to ensure the safety of our employees and sites in line with government policy.
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“We would like to say a huge thank you to all our people, whether protecting colleagues by remaining at home, or continuing to work on on-site operations. The work we do is critically important and underpins the safety and security of the 海角视频 population.”
As recently as February 2020 Babcock said it was on course to make a profit of about £540million in this financial year.
The company had, however, been hit by problems in the global aviation and oil and gas industries already in 2020, before coronavirus struck.
Therefore, the firm said the sum is at the lower end of its estimation for 2019/20, having hoped underlying operating profit might have stretched towards £560million.
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But a trading update to the Stock Exchange, after nine months of the financial year, said underlying revenue remains, as expected, at £4.9billion.
Babcock is, however, facing up to losing a contract to decommission Scotland’s oldest nuclear reactor, at Dounreay, sources have said.
But the firm remained upbeat, saying its contract win rates were in line with targets and its combined order book and pipeline remained at the record level of £34billion - with an order book of £18billion and pipeline of £16billion.
The marine sector, which includes the Devonport facility, continues to perform well and exceed expectations, the statement said.