AMEC has reported a 4% increase in EBITA to £158m on revenue of £2bn for the first half of 2013 as it enjoys strong order intake and a record order book.
EBITA margins were up by 40 basis points to 7.9% (H1 2012: 7.5%). Margins benefited from the reduction in incremental procurement activities in the Americas and cost efficiencies relating to the business restructuring in October 2012, which were partially offset by weakness in Europe, AMEC said.
Adjusted profit before tax stood at £154m (H1 2012: £151m) but profit before tax dropped 2% to £117m.
The firm’s operating cash flow fell 60% to £56m. AMEC said the reduction is predominately due to short-term timing effects in working capital, and also reflects the unusually high cash flow in the first half of 2012. Full-year cash flow is expected to be strong once again, with cash conversion in line with recent years.
Europe generated 30% of group revenue for H1 2013, standing at £596m, a 7% increase year-on-year. However, EBITA fell 11% to £39m with margin dropping from 7.8% in H1 2012 to 6.5% in this period.
AMEC has won several contracts in the oil & gas sector in the UK in the first half of 2013, as well as work in nuclear and a framework contract to provide environmental impact assessments, and remediation projects for the Environment Agency.
Since December 2012 AMEC has been working with UK Water Industry Research on understanding the potential impacts of shale gas fracking on the UK water industry.
It has also recently completed a £9.7m upgrade of a sewage treatment works in Morpeth for Northumbrian Water.
Chief Executive Samir Brikho said:
“AMEC has started 2013 solidly, with stable revenues and improving margins in the first six months.
“Our record order book of £3.9 billion demonstrates how the geographic structure is creating new opportunities for us to grow and service our clients more broadly across our four markets. We continue to see good demand for our services, despite some challenging markets and this gives us confidence to reaffirm our outlook for this year’s earnings.
“A 15 per cent increase in the interim dividend signals our belief in the underlying strength of AMEC and we continue to expect to achieve an EPS of greater than 100 pence in 2014.”
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
bNovate has launched BactoCloud, a secure cloud-based platform that connects and manages its BactoSense instruments, enabling real-time monitoring and optimization of microbial water quality.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.