US aerospace, defence, security and advanced technology giant Lockheed Martin aims to grab a bigger share of the spoils from Scotland’s buoyant oil and gas industry.
Bosses at Scottish business technology company Amor Group, which was recently snapped up by Lockheed Martin for an undisclosed sum, told the Press and Journal the US company wanted to do more than just establish a foothold in this country’s energy sector.
Amor chief executive Scott Leiper said: “Lockheed Martin has not had a big footprint in our oil and gas industry to date.
“It is a big attraction for the company as it tries to diversify from US business and the public services market.
“We were the vehicle for it to establish a foothold in oil and gas, and Aberdeen is key to that.”
Glasgow-based Amor currently has about 250 people working in its Granite City operation out of a total core global workforce of around 600.
The senior management is unchanged following the acquisition.
Dave Bruce is energy-sector director. He was part of a management buyout (MBO) team which established the business in 2009.
Mr Leiper said: “The Lockheed Martin guys like the people and love the (business) plan, so why change it?”
Amor will start operating under the Lockheed Martin brand before the end of the year.
But the change of name will have no impact on customers as they will still be dealing with the same people, said Mr Leiper.
The role of Lockheed Martin, whose technology was used on NASA’s space shuttles, was all about “supercharging the business,” he added.
The £27.8million MBO in 2009 saw Aberdeen-based Sword Pragma and Glasgow-based Sword Real Time acquired from France’s Sword Group.
It was led by Mr Leiper, John Innes and David Blyth and backed by Close Growth Capital and Scottish Enterprise, with debt funding from Clydesdale Bank.
Lockheed Martin, employs 116,000 people.
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