Aberdeen energy services giant Wood seals £250m nuclear sale to Jacobs

Wood, the Aberdeen-headquartered energy and engineering services heavyweight, has sealed the sale of its nuclear business to US firm Jacobs for £250 million.
Wood has its headquarters operation in Aberdeen. Picture: Simon PriceWood has its headquarters operation in Aberdeen. Picture: Simon Price
Wood has its headquarters operation in Aberdeen. Picture: Simon Price

The Scots group had reached a deal last August to offload the division, with closure dependent upon merger clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority – a move granted last week.

Wood said the cash proceeds from the nuclear divestment and the recent sale of its industrial services business had generated a total of $429m (£340m). The disposals form part of the group’s “ongoing portfolio optimisation focus” and will also enable it to reduce debt.

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David Kemp, Wood’s chief financial officer, said: “Future portfolio optimisation will continue to be driven by our strategic objective of building a premium, differentiated, higher margin business focused on energy and built environment end markets.

“The sale of our nuclear business and other recent divestments have also enabled us to accelerate progress towards our leverage target.”

The nuclear business sold to Jacobs designs, delivers and maintains “strategic and complex” nuclear assets, primarily for customers in the UK. The firm’s environment and infrastructure consultancy will continue to deliver support in various markets including North America.

Wood, which operates in more than 60 countries, employing some 60,000 people, was today due to release its full-year results.

In January, the group said it was expecting higher core earnings with a strong performance from its engineering services business offsetting cooling onshore drilling demand in the US.

It said in a trading statement that adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) were expected to be between $850m and $860m for the year to the end of December 2019.READ MORE: Aberdeen's Wood secures £100m Aussie water contract

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