Sales down for engineering giant as new boss is poised to take over

INTERNATIONAL engineering group Amec Foster Wheeler has reported a 1.5%  drop in income to £1.3bn in its first quarter trading update, as the company prepares to welcome a new chief executvie.

However, its current chief financial officer and interim chief executive Ian McHoul said the Knutsford, Cheshire-based company’s “asset-light and flexible operating model” made it well-placed to tackle “challenging market conditions” which continue in many of its operations.

Its order book stood at £6.4bn at the end of March, compared to £6.6bn at the year end. This represents a decline of 3% since December.
 
None of the $500m of projects on which GPG – which AFW is in the process of selling – has been selected as the supplier and which we are waiting for the go-ahead from customers have been sanctioned so far this year and remain out of the order book.

Net debt at the end of March was £1.16bn. This includes the £49m payment to settle the Longview arbitration which was made in March and the £57m payment of the 2015 interim dividend made in January, as well as the normal seasonal outflow of working capital in the first half.

Meanwhile, the company has announced the appointment of Dr Jonathan Lewis as chief executive from June 1, with McHoul continuing as chief financial officer.

Lewis has been employed in a number of senior roles at Halliburton Company Inc based in Houston, Texas where he is a senior vice president since 1996.

He is a member of Halliburton executive committee, with responsibility since 2014 for leading its largest division, Completion & Production.

Prior roles included leadership of the Europe/Sub-Saharan Africa Region (the largest operating region outside North America) and the Drilling and Evaluation Division.

The 54-year-old, has dual UK/US citizenship and will be based in London. His salary will be £775,000 per annum and he will be eligible for an annual bonus and participation in the long term incentive plan, and receive other benefits in accordance with the company’s remuneration policy for executive directors.  
 
Chairman John Connolly said: “Jon brings with him 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry across many parts of the world, including twenty years as a senior executive at Halliburton where he built a reputation for safe and ethical operations, strategic market insight, strong leadership, commercial discipline and consistently delivered against commitments.”

Close