Cumbrian marine services firm James Fisher and Sons has said there is no indication that personal or commercially sensitive data was lost during a recent cyber attack.

In a trading update the Barrow-headquartered business appeared to reveal the attack had been centred on its JFD arm, which provides diving equipment and rescue training to commercial clients and the defence sector, with specific emphasis on submarines.

JFD was created in 2014 through the merger of Aberdeen-based diving equipment firm Divex and James Fisher Defence, a world leader in submarine rescue, with the National Hyperbaric Centre, also in Aberdeen, coming into the fold a year later.

James Fisher and Sons has previously been tight-lipped on providing further details of the cyber attack following its initial statement published on the London Stock Exchange, on November 5.

In its latest statement, the company said: “On 5 November 2019, the Group reported that it had been subjected to a cyber-security incident.

“Immediately on realising this incident had occurred, the Group invoked its established disaster recovery procedures and confirms that the recovery is now materially complete.

“This incident had no impact on JFD, within the Specialist Technical division, and based on our investigations, there are no indications of any transfer of personal or commercially sensitive data.”

At the time of the attack James Fisher and Sons said it had taken all affected systems offline and had restricted access to its communications and financial systems.

It also appointed external specialist, including forensic cyber security experts to investigate the circumstances and scope of the incident.

It added: “As a responsible global business, we have notified regulators and law enforcement agencies in the UK and, where required, are in the process of notifying in other jurisdictions.”

As well as the UK, JFD also has locations in Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United States, Africa, Australian and Singapore.

The company has not revealed where the attack originated from.

Elsewhere in the trading update for the period ended September 30, James Fisher and Sons said it expected profit before tax for the full year to be ahead of last year’s figure of £56.1 million.

Its Offshore Oil and Tankships division was continuing to trade “well ahead” of the previous year, it said, while its Specialist Technical arm was performing in line with “a strong prior year comparative”.

The Marine Support had picked up following a “slow start” to the year.

“The Board believes that our marine service strategy, focused on specialised niche markets, will continue to provide future growth and value to its shareholders,” the company added.

James Fisher was founded in 1847 in Barrow as a ship-owning business transporting haematite from quarries in Cumbria around the world.

It has since expanded into other markets, with its specialist nuclear business, James Fisher Nuclear, based in Egremont.