Amec reported yesterday that oil and gas revenue was up strongly in UK North Sea last year, but shares still ended the day down 7%.
The UK engineering and project management group said 2012 turnover was up 28% to £4.16billion, and pre-tax profits up slightly at £263million from £259million.
Chief executive Samir Brikho said the outlook for this year was for strong growth in conventional oil and gas performance, but with reduced revenue from its oil sands business and a softening of demand in its mining business. David Barclay, a divisional director at wealth manager and financial-planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, said: “Amec reported an impressive set of full-year results with earnings per share up more than forecast, helped by the progress of the share buy-back plan which was completed at the beginning of February. The outlook is positive, despite a softening in some of Amec’s key markets, particularly those in Australia.”
He added that in spite of the positive news, including an increase in the dividend, there was a sense of disappointment among investors which was reflected in the share price falling 82p to close at £10.42.
Mr Barclay said: “Although surprised by the negative reaction we think the disappointment stemmed from management guiding towards slower growth for the year ahead as well as an ending of the share buy-back programme. It may also simply be a case of some investors deciding to take profits, with the shares up 12%, at Wednesday’s close, since the turn of the year.”
Amec’s deals in the North Sea last year included the £60million detail design contract for GDF Suez’s Cygnus field.