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(Alliance News) - John Wood Group PLC on Friday said it has opened a strategic review into part of its Consulting business.
Shares in the energy services provider were down 5.3% in London on Friday morning at 190.35 pence each, recovering partially after a bigger initial tumble. The wider FTSE 250 index was down 0.1%.
Aberdeen-based John Wood said it is looking to "unlock value" in its built-environment unit within Consulting.
"The scope of the review will consider a range of options to best unlock value from this part of the business for shareholders that Wood believes is not currently being recognised in its market capitalisation. It will also assess how best to take advantage of the positive trends and investment opportunities in energy transition and industrial decarbonisation where the company is already a global leader," the company explained.
The built-environment business, John Wood explained, provides consulting and engineering solutions that address environmental risks, increase climate resilience, and help to build more sustainable infrastructure.
In 2021, the part of the business that services the built-environment end-market is expected to account for about USD1.3 billion of revenue within John Wood's Consulting unit.
Turning to trading, John Wood said it expects to deliver improved revenue and earnings in the second half of 2021 relative to the first half.
Revenue for the six months ended June 30 was USD3.15 billion, with pretax profit of USD18.4 million.
The engineering and consulting company said it is seeing robust activity in Consulting and Operations, but the rate of recovery in Projects has been slower than anticipated largely due to the deferral of activity and awards into 2022.
More positively, John Wood said it has maintained strength in the order book which was up 18% at the end of September compared to December 2020.
As a result, John Wood said it expects 2021 revenue to be USD6.4 billion. This would be down 15% from USD7.56 billion in 2020.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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