John Wood Group confident for full year

27th Jun 2013 07:03

Energy services group John Wood Group said it is on course to deliver good growth in the first half and remains confident of achieving full year performance in line with expectations.In its pre-close trading update for the six months to June 30th, the group said its Engineering division continues to perform well and is on track to achieve EBITA growth of around 15%. In Upstream, work on Ichthys and Mafumeira Sul is progressing well, as it won FEED and engineering scopes in areas including Canada, the Gulf of Mexico and Norway. Elsewhere in Subsea and Pipelines, it won onshore pipeline engineering projects with Dow Chemical and Williams in the US, and it is seeing strong activity across our principal subsea hubs in the UK, US and Asia Pacific. In downstream, John Wood has seen higher volumes contributing to improved performance.In Wood Group PSN, its US onshore business is showing good growth, boosted by performance in the shale regions. Offshore US, it secured operations & maintenance work for Hess in the Gulf of Mexico. North Sea activity remains strong, it said, while internationally, it has won work with Shell in Iraq, and in Oman. "We remain confident of a significant improvement in financial performance for the year," it said in an update.Performance in its engine overhaul activities improved in the second quarter and it is seeing the impact of cost reduction initiatives while in Power Solutions, it remains confident of finalising change orders on Dorad which should benefit the full year position. Otherwise its NRG and Pasadena contracts have progressed well, and it has reached final agreement on the outstanding change orders on the completed GWF contract. "We continue to pursue a number of smaller opportunities, which should contribute to 2014," the group said."Overall, we remain confident of achieving full year performance in line with expectations. Looking further ahead, our strong balance sheet, market fundamentals, leading positions, and balance of opex and capex related activities position the Group well for longer term growth."CJ