Wood Group confident of meeting full-year expectations

Oil and gas services company John Wood Group said it is confident of achieving growth in the full year in line with expectations.Its Wood Group Engineering business is anticipated to deliver a 10% to 15% rise in earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) in fiscal year 2013. In Upstream, the Mafumeira Sul and Ichthys projects remain on schedule to be mostly completed around the year end.However the group's business in Western Canada has remained "subdued". In Subsea and Pipelines, the company is seeing strong activity across principal hubs and is benefitting from US shale related onshore pipeline work. Downstream, process and industrial is on track to deliver an improved performance over 2012.In Wood Group PSN, growth is being driven by the US onshore shale related business.North Sea activity remains robust, following a significant number of contract renewals during the period. The company has also started to mobilise its brownfield engineering and procurement contract with ExxonMobil in Papua New Guinea. In Oman, we continue expect an improvement in underlying financial performance for the full year.In Wood Group GTS, 2013 EBITA is expected to be slightly ahead of 2012. Maintenance performance is being supported by cost reduction initiatives, particularly in the power plant services business. "We anticipate improved operating cash flow in the second half, and our strong balance sheet provides a good platform for growth," the firm said.RD