Aberdeen-based oil service company Sparrows said yesterday it wanted to add a further 120 people to its worldwide workforce to meet client demand.
The firm, which provides offshore lifting services, employs about 1,600 people at its 16 bases around the globe.
Two-thirds of the new posts will be in the north-east, where it has nearly 1,100 workers.
News of the fresh recruitment came as Sparrows said its 2010 results had been hit by the fall-off of activity in the Gulf of Mexico following the Macondo oil spill.
The firm said that annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were down 12% at £13.9million.
Sales dropped 10% to £149.5million.
Sparrows is owned by Close Brothers Private Equity and its directors.
The company said it had completed a refinancing recently. Chief executive Doug Sedge said no new stakeholders had been introduced to the business, and loans had been agreed to allow Sparrows to grow further.
He added that budgets to allow substantial investment in the business and to develop its capabilities and systems had been established and funded.
Mr Sedge said 2011 had seen a return to strong growth in both revenue and profits.
He added: “Last year was a challenging year for everyone offshore, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. Revenue and profits both declined, but it is a measure of Sparrows’ resilience that the group remained strongly profitable throughout.
“Future prospects for the company are very positive. A recovery in US profit growth is now under way and strong performances in the UK and a developing presence in the eastern hemisphere, taken together, promise substantial growth for the future.”
The company is targeting a 20% growth in ebitda in 2011.
The chief executive said the 2010 bottom-line figures included a £47.7million non-cash charge in respect of goodwill impairment and fixed-asset writedown.
Both these charges related to the US business, the carrying value of which had been adjusted on the balance sheet to reflect the impacts of the Macondo incident and the global financial crisis on the group valuation.