Refocus gives Amec a 66% profits boost
Catching the coat-tails of some of the world's biggest spending companies, the global energy giants, has produced soaring orders, profits and dividends at Amec.
Fashioned after two years of reconstruction into a focused energy industries engineering contractor and consultant by chief executive Samir Brikho, Amec today reported a 66% surge in 2008 pre-tax profits to £210 million and a dividend up 15% to 15.4p.
Profit margins have risen to 7.1% from 5.1% and the forward order book now stands at a record £3 billion.
Brikho, a Lebanese who made his name at European industrial giant ABB, said Amec's business has been underpinned by several milestone contracts with the likes of American giant Exxon Mobil and British supermajor BP. Other big customers expanding to the US include National Grid and EDF.
"Our internal performance programmes mean our financial performance should improve irrespective of the state of the market," said Brikho.
Shares in Amec, which slipped below £4 in the autumn, were 8½p better today at 543p.
