The Australian engineering firm Worley has requested an immediate trading halt on its shares “pending it releasing an announcement.”
Unless the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) decides against the halt, the services firm’s stocks will not be traded until 11 January or when Worley releases its market announcement.
Worley (ASX: WOR) has a strong presence in the UK, with bases in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Bristol, Great Yarmouth, Grimsby, Leeds, London, Manchester, and Stockton-on-Tees.
With nine offices and over 50 years in operation within the country, Worley employs over 3,000 people in the UK.
This comes after an international arbitration tribunal dismissed the firm’s arbitration in Ecuador on judicial grounds in December, following a years-long process.
In 2019, Worley kicked of the arbitration in Ecuador which related to “historic unpaid trade receivables” which is the firm claims is owed to its subsidiary by Petroecuador, a state-owned enterprise and a related state entity.
The receivables relate to contracts carried out from 2011 to 2017, throughout the work Worley states it provided “significant value” to its customers.
The parties involved were unable to come to an agreement on payment, kicking off the arbitration process in 2019.
Following the dismissal of the arbitration process by the international arbitration tribunal, Worley says it is “reviewing the decision with its legal advisors and considering the options for further legal proceedings.
Soon after the dismissal of its arbitration process in Ecuador, Worley announced it had secured a contract extension with Harbour Energy to provide engineering services supporting major North Sea upstream projects.
In December last year Worley’s vice president for operations Kirsten Oliver said the group was happy to announce a two-year extension to its engineering and construction services contract with the London-listed upstream group.
Ms Oliver said it would allow Worley to complete the execution of current projects, including work on the Talbot and Affleck tie backs.
