Energy engineering business Amec said yesterday it was on track to achieve double-digit percentage growth this year after oil and gas work helped it to a strong first half.
Revenue rose 37% to £2billion on the back of the firm’s natural resources business, which accounted for more than half.
Chief operating officer Neil Bruce said stripping out increased procurement on behalf of clients, currency fluctuations and income from acquisitions, growth was still 15%.
He said most of this came from the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico, where Amec is carrying out a major project for BP on its £4.5billion Clair Ridge development and on the Big Dog project, respectively.
The group, which has a big presence in Aberdeen, won a £150million design contract last year for Clair Ridge.
Amec specialises in engineering and project management across energy and infrastructure sectors.
Mr Bruce said: “The key underlying story is the real growth has been driven by our natural resources division, which is oil and gas, nuclear and mining, in areas like the North Sea.
“Operations in the UK and Aberdeen are a pretty huge part of that story. It’s been a really good first half of the year and we see that continuing. We see good visibility into 2013.
“This is an industry which is not in terminal decline, it is a long-term business with lots of opportunities. Production is coming down but ultimately there continues to be projects being exploited as technology moves on and we are designing projects like Clair Ridge with a design life of 40 years.”
He said Amec’s order book stood at £3.7billion, up from £3.4billion in the first half of last year, with order intake up 25%.
The average staffing level was up 15% at 27,733 people, including about 2,500 in the UK North Sea.
Pre-tax profits in the first half rose 25% to £126million. The firm added, however, that margins would be lower in the mature markets of the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico, where competition was greater.
Amec shares fell 4.8% yesterday to £11.03, however, analyst Malcolm Graham-Wood of VSA Capital Markets said the company still looked a good bet.
Chief executive Samir Brikho said Amec’s opportunity for more acquisitions continued to be good. Earlier this year it bought Serco’s nuclear business in the UK. Mr Bruce said acquisitions could be across any of the firm’s markets or geographies.
Amec said it also saw growth in its unconventional oil and gas segment, 90% focused on Canadian oil sands, rising from 24% to 30% of its natural resources business.
Renewables and bioprocess work also rose, from 18% of the firm’s power and process division revenue in the first half of 2011 to 35% this year; mostly based in North America.