Wood Group H1 profit and revenue slide; wins $700m Kazakhstan contract

(ShareCast News) - Wood Group posted a drop in profit and revenue for the first half amid "challenging" conditions in the oil and gas market but reaffirmed its outlook for the full year.In the six months to the end of June, profit slumped 63.2% to $44.6m as revenue declined 16.6% to $2.56bn.Chief executive Robin Watson said: "Performance in the first half of 2016 reflects the balance of challenging oil and gas market, our continued focus on utilisation and cost management and the benefits of our flexible, asset light model. Our overall outlook for 2016 remains unchanged; with full year EBITA anticipated to be around 20% lower than 2015, in line with previous guidance."Looking further ahead, we see early indications of modest recovery in some areas and believe our customer relationships, geographic footprint, strong financial footing and relentless focus on delivering value through our asset life cycle services and specialist technical solutions, position us well."The oil services group said it delivered overhead cost reduction of $148m last year and in the first half of 2016 it delivered around $50m of additional sustainable overhead savings through ongoing reorganisation, delayering and back office rationalisation. The company expects to deliver a further significant overhead cost saving in 2016, although the pace of saving will slow significantly in the second half of the year. Also on Tuesday, the group said it has been awarded a multi-year contract valued at around $700m by Tengizchevroil in Kazakhstan to provide optimal integrated process and safety solutions.""We are combining the global expertise and capabilities of our Automation & Controls personnel in the UK, US, Argentina and Kazakhstan to deliver the complex systems needed for this world-class field and expansion project," said Watson.