12th Jun 2014 08:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - Engineering and consulting firm WS Atkins PLC Thursday reported an increase in profit and revenue for its recent full year, following a strong performance in Asia Pacific and the UK and Europe.
The company, which has operations around the world including the Middle East, posted pretax profit of GBP114.2 million for the year ended March 31, up 17% from GBP98.0 million a year earlier, as revenue crept up to GBP1.75 billion from GBP1.71 billion a year earlier.
Epsom-based WS Atkins said all its international operations, apart from the US, saw growth during the year, led by the Asia-Pacific business which won a number of profitable contracts.
The company's Asia Pacific arm saw revenue rise 14% to GBP100.5 million from GBP88.0 million a year earlier. WS Atkins said it has been commissioned by Dragages Hong Kong Ltd as the design consultant for the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point project and associated works. This is the company's largest design-and-build contract with Dragages in Hong Kong to date.
In the UK and Europe, revenue rose 2.2% to GBP998.3 million from GBP977.1 million, despite the disposal of the company's UK highway services business at the half year. WS Atkins said it won a number of rail contacts in the region.
In addition, WS Atkins said its Middle Eastern division performed well, with revenue up 3.8% in the year to GBP168.4 million from GBP162.2 million. The firm said its strategy in the region is to focus on infrastructure rail and property contracts in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It said the property sector is showing early signs of an upturn and it is currently working on a number of new projects, including the Dubai Opera House and the residential element of Al Habtoor City, along Dubai's main arterial road.
WS Atkins Chief Executive Uwe Krueger said winning contracts in Qatar is connected to the firm's long-term infrastructure work, but declined in an television interview with CNBC to comment on whether the company is involved in developing sites for FIFA's 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
It comes as the football governing body has been rocked by corruption allegations, mainly around the selection of Qatar as the World Cup hosts. Earlier this month, the Sunday Times newspaper claimed that it has secret documents that prove that the former Qatari football leader Mohamed bin Hammam paid EUR3.7 million to officials to secure support for Qatar's World Cup bid.
Krueger declined to tell CNBC whether the firm had bid or won work for projects connected to the football event.
WS Atkins said its US business was affected by the sale of loss-making construction management business Peter Brown. WS Atkins made a GBP3.1 million loss on the disposal, and overall the US division saw revenue fall 2.3% to GBP380.9 million from GBP389.7 million.
However, the firm remained upbeat about the US and said it was awarded some "notable" contracts, the largest of these being the reappointment to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood-risk MAP framework contract and the FEMA Nationwide Housing Inspection Services contract
WS Atkins said it is in the final stages in achieving regulatory approval for the acquisition of Nuclear Safety Associates Inc, an engineering and technical services firm based in North America.
Financially, the firm said net funds amounted to GBP188.3 million, up from GBP143.0 million.
On the back of its strong performance the company increases its final dividend to 23.25 pence from 22.00 pence, making a total dividend for the year of 33.75 pence compared with 32.0 pence.
WS Atkins shares were quoted down 0.2% at 1,323.00 pence Thursday morning.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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