Many more jobs are in the pipeline at Aker Solutions, with the Norwegian Group reinforced by the largest backlog of contracts in its history.
It means further opportunities in Aberdeen though the company is not currently mounting a recruitment campaign as such.
Chairman and CEO, Oyvind Eriksen told Energy: “A year ago we made a statement that we would recruit 500 people for Aberdeen over a period of 24 months. We have completed that in one year. It’s a sign of the commitment to the Aberdeen business.
“Subsea will be further developed as a centre of excellence for highly specialised products and MMO (maintenance, modifications & operations) will compete even harder to gain a greater market share.”
Head of subsea, Alan Brunnen said that, for his sector, there is clearly still a requirement for yet more skilled people.
“The number that we need is greater than there are available. So we’re looking at diversifying some of the expertise to Houston, Brazil and Malaysia but at the same time continuing to expand here,” said Brunnen.
“Today we have more than 150 open positions. That’s not 150 positions that we have to fill to meet our obligations, its 150 positions open because we see more opportunities coming; fundamentally engineering and project management execution and the manufacturing technical skills side . . . electronics, hydraulics, mechanical.
“For MMO, that by its nature is variable as big project come and go; but the trend is slowly upwards.
“In more generic terms, we’re focused on positioning ourselves as an employer of choice and if we can pull in more people across more disciplines and more business areas, and Aberdeen is a fruitful pace to employ them, we will take them on.
“But we’re not making a headline announcement in terms of another 500 people but, over the next two years, why not, if they’re available.”
Eriksen, who had to shoulder the reporting of a lack-lustre end to 2012 for the group and a number of issues to solve, especially in Brazil, pointed out that Aberdeen, with more than 2,700 staff, ranks as one of the largest Aker Solutions locations outside Norway; founded on subsea, MMO and well intervention services.
Indeed the company’s North Sea business supported an increase in overall 2012 turnover, up 23% to £5.22billion.
Eriksen: “For subsea, Aberdeen is our centre of excellence for subsea controls. For MMO, we have still a way to go in order to compete with the larger competitors in this market. Still, in order to further develop the operation in Aberdeen, it’s largely about how we invest in this market and how we strengthen the team.”
Looking across the group, he told Energy that it had been refined down to nine business streams under his chairmanship, but that it is subsea, drilling technology, MMO and engineering that are the main growth engines.
“It’s actually a close race between MMO, subsea and drilling technology in terms of improvements. Subsea was, however, the area that made a big difference in 2012,” said Eriksen.
“We have seen significant revenue growth and, in parallel, significant improvement in profitability.”
Some 46% of group revenues for 2012 were generated from the home market versus 54% other markets. The expectation is that the pendulum will swing further to the international theatre this year and beyond.
“In order to grow the international business we have established regions supporting the business areas operating in the various regions. Regional management groups have been a key facilitator for that change.”
Eriksen warned there is no room for complacency after two good years and that “a lot of hard work” will still be required in order to develop each of the business areas, both geographically and by discipline. He said too that what is required to expand internationally differs from business area to business area.
Returning to UK business activities he pointed to the success of re-establishing in London.
“We opened the office in November 2011 and today, we have about 300 people there. We have leased a new building in Chiswick Park with a capacity to house 1,700 people,” said Eriksen, adding: “That’s a big investment and it will be an important hub, not only for engineering but for several of the Aker Solutions business areas in the future.”
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