Northern Scotland’s Global Energy Group predicts turnover for 2009 to leap to £170million, compared with £130million last year. The firm’s chairman, Roy MacGregor, also expects to recruit another 400, mostly engineering and fabrication, personnel over the same period, which is twice the forecast of just of a few weeks ago.
MacGregor told Energy that the leap forward would be achieved through organic growth of about 10% – albeit the North Sea is expected to slow – plus acquisitions, and that the emphasis on recruitment would be in Scotland, including for international deployment.
He said the ambition was possible to achieve. Since its foundation in 2005, the group’s annual turnover has soared far beyond expectations – even in difficult times as the medium to long-term outlook across the energy sector, oil&gas, renewables and energy utilities support, is considered buoyant.
“The North Sea is taking a bump,” said MacGregor.
“Until the credit crunch is sorted out and money begins to flow again, it is making decision-making difficult. The oil price doesn’t help, either. But we’re very confident that we’re going to grow our business.
“We have, without being too specific, a pretty full order book for 2009.
“Some people say 2010 will be a difficult year. But we have a reasonable foundation. Don’t forget, our work is contracting, and that means a relatively short-term time horizon.
“But I’m confident that, with the right people doing the right things, we will be successful. I’m an optimist and, if the credit situation is largely sorted in 2009, I still think the opportunities are there in all energy businesses, and that includes the utilities.
“We’re involved in utilities quite extensively now and I think we’re beginning to see a lot of activity coming forward, including regeneration of hydro as well.
“Whereas planning permissions are going to be more difficult to get for new schemes, I think we’ll see a lot more money spent on extending the life of existing plant. That should be a good source of work.”
As for recruitment to the group, which currently employs in the order of 2,500 – though this varies as Global is a contracting company – MacGregor said he had a “preference” for hiring on his home turf.
“About 60% of our workforce comes out of the north of Scotland, so we’re a big employer in the region. The 400 jobs that we expect to create will be in various locations around the work, but based on recruitment of people in Scotland.”
Despite the growing international success of Global – it leases the former offshore fabrication yard at Nigg – and expectation that the group’s UK business would continue to thrive as it explored new energy avenues, including nuclear, MacGregor warned that the long-term future of the former North Sea platform fabrication yard where it does so much of its work must be properly secured.
He agreed that wrangling over ownership had to be brought to a close, that Nigg had been studied to death and that there was an urgent need for substantive action in order to reassure the energy engineering and construction marketplace that the facility was worthy of its consideration.
“We’ve seen how the Scottish Government has intervened in Fife to create the business park down there, where you have BiFab and various incubators.
“We have a very strong case with Nigg. But, for whatever reason, we don’t have the political clout to make that decision. I’m very hopeful with the current Government that they see opportunities, especially in the renewables and utilities markets. But the logjam at Nigg has to be broken.
“I don’t think compulsory purchase is the way, but I do think it requires more Government pressure. For us, it’s pretty critical. For example, I can’t go and say that I could probably employ perhaps 1,200 people in that yard alone, were we to win major fabrication work, in case the landlord puts their price up.
“With Nigg as a Government/community/port authority-owned facility, that would help open the door to numerous opportunities.
“We don’t particularly want to own it, but we’d like to participate in its development. We’re the only company in there, but we need a longer lease than we have.”