Large acquisitions could be on the cards at Amec, which announced a 30% surge in annual profits yesterday.
The international engineering and project-management group highlighted its continued financial strength, saying it had net cash of £740million at the end of last year.
Chief financial officer Ian McHoul said: “We are looking at larger deals across the globe. We have got cash on the balance sheet, we have got debt capacity which we can use, so we are talking comfortably having firepower in the billions as opposed to the millions.”
He said no deal was imminent, but added that the company was always in talks and said the acquisition pipeline had strengthened and he was confident opportunities would crystallise in the coming months.
Just last month, fast-growing Aberdeen oil service company qedi was acquired by Amec in a deal worth up to £33million. Qedi, which was set up in 1987, employs more than 350 people providing project delivery services to international oil companies in the UK, Gulf of Mexico, Middle East, Caspian and Australia.
Neil Bruce, the Aberdeen-based chief operating officer at Amec, said yesterday that further acquisitions could follow in the UK. He added: “If there are companies that add to our technology or capability, we are always going to be interested.”
Mr Bruce played down the significance of recent unrest in the Middle East on Amec, adding: “It is responsible for less than 2% of our business.”
He said the group had 54 expatriates working in Libya and all had now evacuated, while the 77 local staff in the country were also all safe.
Amec’s results showed turnover up 16% to £2.95billion, while earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (ebita) jumped 30% to £271.8million. Dividends per share were up 50% to 26.5p.
Chief executive Samir Brikho said: “We are well positioned to take advantage of the growing demand for natural resources, power and water, and remain very confident about achieving our targeted earnings per share of greater than 100p in 2015.”
Amec is targeting building market share in sectors where it has a strong position – such as nuclear, oil and gas and environmental consulting – plus in areas where it has not previously been focused, such as mining, subsea engineering, water and renewable energy.
Geographically, Amec is looking to expand in Australasia, Latin America and the Middle East, and also in its established markets; particularly the UK and North America. Shares closed up 5.4% last night at £11.90.
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