Partner Article

Amec reports £3m drop in sales

International engineering company Amec, which employs around 500 people in the North East, has reported a small fall in pre-tax profit and revenue.

But the company has also signed a deal with Sempra US Gas and Power to design and construct its 250-megawatt Copper Mountain Solar Three project, near Las Vegas.

The scheme, which will support 300 construction jobs and create 12 permanent posts, is part of one of the largest solar plants in the US, with bosses claiming it will provide enough electricity to power 80,000 homes.

Amec, which employs 420 workers at Lingfield Point in Darlington, says it wants to create new jobs, despite reporting a short drop in sales for the six months to June 30 from £2.02bn to £1.99bn.

Pre-tax profit fell slightly from £120m to £117m.

Chief executive Samir Brikho called the first half of 2013 a “solid start” with improving margins.

He added: “Our record order book of £3.9bn 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 earnings per share of greater than 100 pence in 2014.”

Amec said it had won a multimillion-dollar 250MW solar project by Sempra US Gas & Power in Las Vegas.

The contract is for engineering, procurement and construction to design and build its Copper Mountain Solar 3 project.

Copper Mountain Solar 3 is the third phase of Sempra’s solar complex, currently one of the largest photovoltaic solar plants in the US, which will create more than 300 jobs and 12 permanent operations jobs.

Simon Naylor, Amec’s Americas group president, said: “This contract fully supports our strategy to strengthen our focus on renewable and clean energy.”

Chief executive Samir Brikho added: “We have started the year solidly, have our record order book, and continue to see good demand for our services, despite some challenging markets.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .