John Wood Group PLC Pre-close trading update

18-12-2012 — /europawire.eu/ — John Wood Group PLC (“Wood Group”) issues the following pre-close trading update for the year to 31 December 2012. Full year results will be announced on 5 March 2013.

Overall, conditions in energy markets remain favourable. The Group expects to deliver good growth for the year in line with expectations.

Our Engineering division is performing well and continues to anticipate that 2012 EBITA will be up over 30%. Headcount was 10,300 at the end of November. In upstream, work is progressing on the Ichthys and Mafumeira Sul projects in Australia and Angola respectively, and we remain active on a number of offshore projects in the Gulf of Mexico including Hadrian and Lucius. In the Canadian oil sands market we anticipate some reduction in activity in 2013. In subsea and pipelines, we are particularly active in the North Sea and the North West Shelf of Australia, and continue to see good activity levels in onshore pipelines in North America. In downstream, the market outlook remains generally subdued, albeit we have seen some improvement in performance in the second half.

In Wood Group PSN, growth for the year is underpinned by strong performance in the North Sea and in North America, particularly in the US shale regions where we completed the acquisition of Mitchell’s in North Dakota during October. In Oman, we have taken steps on a number of key matters to improve performance on our contract with PDO. Losses for the year are expected to be around $20m and, subject to further progress, we anticipate significantly reduced losses on the contract in 2013 and that 2014 will be profitable. Elsewhere, we remain active in a number of other international locations including Africa, the Caspian and Australia.

In Wood Group GTS, performance in our Maintenance business has benefitted from the contribution from our oil & gas related activities. In Power Solutions, we have recognised reduced margins on our contract with GWF which is now substantially complete and continue to make good progress on the Dorad contract which is scheduled to complete in the fourth quarter of 2013. We have recently commenced work on contracts with NRG Energy and Pasadena Water & Power and are tracking further opportunities, albeit delays in awards continue.

Overall, performance for 2012 is anticipated to be in line with expectations. We anticipate further good growth in 2013 and remain confident in the longer term prospects for the Group’s market leading services in oil & gas and gas fired power generation markets.

Conference Call
A telephone conference call for analysts will be held at 9am today; participant dial-in details below:

UK : 0844 800 3850
International : +44 844 800 3850
Passcode : 389 325

(Note: Participants from a limited number of international locations who experience problems accessing the call using the numbers above should dial +44 207 762 6301).

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Notes to editors:
Wood Group is an international energy services company with over $6bn revenues, employing over 42,000 people and operating in 50 countries. The Group has three businesses – Engineering, Wood Group PSN and Wood Group GTS – providing a range of engineering, production support, maintenance management and industrial gas turbine overhaul and repair services to the oil & gas, and power generation industries worldwide.
www.woodgroup.com

Enquiries:

Wood Group
Nick Gilman / Andrew Rose / Carolyn Smith		01224 851 000
Brunswick
Patrick Handley/ Rosheeka Field		020 7404 5959