Bond Offshore Helicopters said yesterday it planned to add about 60 people to its workforce after new contract wins worth £160million.
The Aberdeen-based company will begin flying from Blackpool Airport on January 1 under a five-year deal awarded jointly by BHP Billiton and Hydrocarbon Resources – part of Centrica Energy – for flights in support of their Liverpool Bay and Morecambe Bay operations respectively.
Bond will also provide services for another new client, Perenco (UK), in the southern North Sea, starting in June for five years, plus three one-year options, and operating from Norwich Airport.
Meanwhile, the company began operating recently on behalf of Maersk Oil North Sea UK under a five-year contract, with three one-year options, for services from Aberdeen in support of production installations in the central North Sea.
Bond is also investing in a major expansion of its fleet.
It has ordered five aircraft from Eurocopter at a cost of more than £45million: four AS365N3s for the BHP Billiton/Hydrocarbon Resources and Perenco contracts and one EC225 for the Maersk Oil work.
All will be delivered early next year and will increase the Bond fleet to 14.
Bond managing director Bill Munro said: “These contracts from four new clients are another vote of confidence in the high standards of service which we provide, while our investment reflects our strategy to continue developing the company’s operations in the UK and internationally.
“The contracts mean a further expansion in staff – with numbers increasing by around 60, including 30 pilots, to 250 by mid-2010, and will add to job security.”
Bond reported a jump in turnover and profitability earlier this week. Turnover for the year to the end of March was just over £54million, against just under £41million the year before.
Pre-tax profits were £3.18million compared with £2.22million previously, according to the results released by Companies House.