John Menzies plc, the Edinburgh-based global aviation services business, said on Wednesday its revenue slipped to £415.8 million in the six months to June 30, 2021, compared to £431.5 million in H1 of 2020.

However, Menzies reported a first-half profit before tax of £4.7 million compared to a loss of £80.1 million at the same stage of 2020 amid a “strong performance in air cargo services and cargo forwarding.”

In its outlook, Menzies said: “Although there will be regional variations, we currently do not anticipate a return to the volume of ground services and fuelling business that we had in 2019 before 2023.

“Air cargo services and cargo forwarding across all regions continue to be more resilient, with strong volumes and record high yields.

“Although as passenger aircraft activity increases, yields are expected to normalise over time.

“Since the end of the period, we have continued to build commercially.

“In Oceania, we have been successful with Virgin Australia where we retained our existing business and added new business in Cairns, Darwin and Queenstown.

“We will now service Virgin Australia with a mix of ground services and air cargo services at 10 airports in Australia.

“In addition, we have expanded our air cargo operations in Los Angeles, opening an additional cargo facility.

“This new facility will allow us to handle the increase in volumes from the Qatar Airways contract and provides room for further growth.

“We recently announced the acquisition of Interexpresso in Costa Rica, an air cargo focused aviation services provider, adding three new territories to our portfolio and providing an opportunity to develop a strong foothold in Central America and a platform for growth in higher margin markets in the region …

“The current pipeline of investment opportunities includes ventures in all product categories and regions.

“It is anticipated that we will make further announcements in the second half of the year as a number of these ventures complete.”

John Menzies chairman and CEO Philipp Joeinig said: “I am pleased that we have delivered a strong first half despite the continuing impact of Covid-19 on travel.

“This outturn is testament to the actions that were taken last year and our continuing tight focus on all aspects of our operations.

“We are committed to delivering against our strategic priorities and are making good progress.

“We continue to win contracts, enter new markets and optimise the mix of our business portfolio.

“Furthermore, we are confident that our resilient business model leaves us well placed to prosper as flight volumes continue to recover.“