EnerMech chief executive Doug Duguid is giving up the hotseat at the company he helped found more than a decade ago.
Mr Duguid, 57, was one of four key shareholders who, alongside private equity firm Lime Rock Partners, set up the energy services group in Aberdeen in 2008. Today, the business employs about 3,500 people globally.
EnerMech changed hands in a £450 million deal completed last December, with Caryle Group taking over control from Lime Rock and launching a “strategic transition” plan.
It is understood the takeover involved a refinancing of the business which wiped out its existing debt.
Shareholder details for the company’s parent, EnerMech Group Limited, which is registered in Jersey, have remained undisclosed.
Yesterday, EnerMech said Mr Duguid would become deputy chairman for a six-month period from August 1.
John Guy, currently chief operating officer, will take over as CEO.
It is understood Mr Duguid, who started out as a mechanical technician in 1978, has no plans to retire and on exiting EnerMech will spend time developing family business interests.
His career highlights include being part of the management buyout team which rescued Aberdeen-based PSL Energy Services from receivership in 2003 and built it to a company with a £110m turnover and 1,200 staff before selling to Halliburton four years later in a deal worth more than £120m.
EnerMech operates from 40 locations around the world, working on a range of energy sector projects including oil and gas, liquefied naural gas and renewables, as well as other areas like power and defence. The group notched up turnover of £361.4m in 2017, up from £263.9m the previous year.
Mr Duguid said the changes at the top would not affect the day-to-day business, adding: “John Guy has played a pivotal role in getting EnerMech to where it is today and I am confident the next chapter in the company’s growth story will mirror the many milestones achieved by my fellow directors and staff in the company’s first decade.
“It will very much be business as usual at EnerMech for all stakeholders, employees, clients and suppliers.”
Mr Guy joined EnerMech in 2010 as Asia Pacific regional director based in Singapore, where he oversaw an expansion of services before becoming chief operating officer in 2013.
He started his career in the UK working on floating production, storage and offloading vessel projects and has also spent time Azerbaijan. More recently, he has been tasked with growing EnerMech’s presence in the Caspian, Middle East and Australasia regions.
Mr Guy said: “Doug’s leadership and enterprise has established a formidable platform on which EnerMech can continue to make significant inroads in emerging markets across the globe.”
New beginnings
Doug Duguid founded EnerMech in 2008 along with three other former directors of PSL Energy Services, including current chief financial officer Michael Buchan.
The four, also including Derek Grant and Phil Bentley, invested more than £30million into the new business along with Houston-based private equity firm Lime Rock Partners.
EnerMech quickly marked its entry into the mechanical service market, snapping up Specialist Maintenance Services in Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth-based A1 Training Consultants.
By 2010, the company was growing at breakneck speeds with £65m turnover and 500 staff, with acquisitions and staff growth continuing in the following years.
In its latest set of accounts, for 2017, EnerMech reported group revenue of £361 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £43.6m.
The company said around £45m of revenue growth had come from the acquisition of electrical and instrumentation specialist EPS Group Australia.
EnerMech currently employs about 3,500 people in key markets, operating on a large scale in the UK, Norway and Middle East and Caspian regions, as well as other parts of Asia, Africa, Australia and Americas.
As the top job at the group passes to new CEO John Guy, chairman John Kennedy said Mr Duguid had played a big part in the group’s growth.
Mr Kennedy added: “EnerMech owes a debt of gratitude to Doug, who has taken a start-up business and transformed it over a 10 year period into a successful, well-respected organisation which has created great opportunities for our 3,500 employees, as well as other stakeholders and our customers and suppliers.
“Doug Duguid is handing over our business in strong health and with very exciting growth prospects ahead of us.
“This is a positive transition from the founding owner to a natural successor – John Guy knows EnerMech and our target markets inside out.
“This places EnerMech in a very strong position to increase our reach in traditional energy markets, while rolling out our integrated offering across many new sectors.”
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