Aberdeen-based oil service company Sparrows Offshore Group said yesterday it anticipated the return of much stronger growth opportunities in the next couple of years.
The comment came from chief executive Doug Sedge as the group announced its results for a “challenging” market in 2009.
Sparrows – formerly known as Energy Cranes International – is an offshore lifting, handling and fluid-power specialist.
The company’s turnover for 2009 was £165.7million, up 14% on the previous year.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £17.8million were only 9% stronger, which Sparrows said reflected the challenging market in 2009 throughout the offshore services sector.
Mr Sedge said: “Sparrows responded positively to the imperative to deliver efficiency savings to clients, and this did affect margins across the year.
“On the plus side, we extended our reach and built market share in overseas territories, and this augurs well for future years’ performance.”
The chief executive said that, in a year in which Sparrows won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for international trade, the emphasis on foreign growth was evident in the accounts.
While UK revenue grew 7% in 2009, overseas revenue increased by 20%.
The group’s fastest-growing overseas market was in Singapore and management anticipated that the company’s new presence in India would overtake even Singapore’s growth rate in 2010-11.
The directors hold a positive long-term view of the market, which led them to continue capital and people investments during the leaner 2009 market.
About £3.5million was spent on capital-expenditure projects while employee numbers ended the year at a record 1,476, with 940 of them in Aberdeen.
For next year and beyond, the firm is optimistic of a return to its historically high rates of growth.
Mr Sedge said: “With oil prices stable again, it is clear that the fluctuations in 2008-09 were exceptional departures from the longer-term trend of steadily increasing hydrocarbon prices. We are already seeing growing operator confidence and a return to new project starts in Africa, South America, the Middle and Far East.
“We expect to see this optimism spread to Europe and the US.
“While 2010 will undoubtedly be a year of consolidation, we anticipate the return of much stronger growth opportunities in 2011 and 2012, and we will be well positioned, and resourced, to take advantage of those opportunities when they come.”
Sparrows is owned by its directors plus UK merchant bank Close Brothers Private Equity.