Oilfield engineering group Aker Solutions said yesterday it was “business as usual” in the north-east despite confirming a fall in profits.
The Norwegian firm said Aberdeen was a “central part” of its plans, adding that its subsea division, which makes up the majority of its operations in the north-east, was still performing strongly.
As reported in the Press and Journal last week, Aker’s overall performance in the first three months of the year fell short of expectations.
Yesterday, the company said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the quarter were £97million.
This compared with £116million in the same period last year and was nearly £30million shy of analyst predictions.
Turnover in the latest period was £1.2billion, up from £1.04billion previously although short of the £1.28billion predicted by analysts.
Last week’s profit warning led to a 21% fall in Aker’s share price, wiping nearly £700million from the firm’s value.
Aker said yesterday it expected earnings to be higher in the second half of the year, helped by anticipated contract awards in the subsea business.
The company’s subsea division accounts for about 60% of its work in and around Aberdeen.
Aker executive chairman Oyvind Eriksen, who previously described the first quarter performance as “truly disappointing”, said yesterday the long-term trend for the company’s main markets was positive despite cost overruns and losses in several divisions.
He added: “Going forward, we want to build on our strong position in subsea and we will, of course, continue to strengthen both capacity and competency in this area.”
Mr Eriksen added: “As our biggest location outside of Norway, Aberdeen is a central part of our growth plans. It is business as usual in Aberdeen.”
Aker employs about 2,800 people in and around Aberdeen but wants its north-east workforce to grow to 3,200 by 2015.