Aberdeen firm Wood said today it is recruiting for 200 new jobs in its home city and a total of 500 UK-wide.
Recent reports claimed cost-cutting across the multinational engineering and consulting business would lead to hundreds of roles being axed.
But Wood chief executive Ken Gilmartin told The Press and Journal (P&J) the company is growing its headcount in the Granite City and globally.
He dismissed the reports about redundancies as “media speculation”.
“Our people are in demand right now,” he said, adding: “We are continuing to hire.
“We’re growing our business significantly and we need more people quickly.”
New ‘simplification’ programme
But Wood has launched a “simplification” programme aimed at boosting profits.
It is targeting annualised savings of nearly £50 million from 2025.
Announcing annual results, Wood said the initiative was initially focused on “central costs”.
The company aims to make IT savings and reduce its property spend.
Its simplification programme is expected to improve profit s and cash generation.
“This is absolutely not about downsizing,” Mr Gilmartin told the P&J, adding: “It is all about making our business better.”
Shares in the FTSE 250 company, which employs more than 35,000 people globally, slid more than 7% despite it reporting a substantial narrowing of losses.
Each unit of the stock was worth 137.9p at market close.
Wood said pre-tax losses from continuing operations totalled £49.6m last year, compared with losses of about £547m in 2022.
Stripping out the impact of currency exchange rates, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) surged by 10.9% last year, to £334.5m.
Wood’s global sales up nearly 9%
Wood said revenue was 8.7% higher, at £4.67billion.
Headcount fell slightly, to 35,335, which the company said reflected its strategic move away from some projects.
Wood currently employs 4,500 people in Aberdeen.
The company’s had orders worth about £5bn on its books at the end of last year.
We made significant progress in this first year of our three-year growth strategy.”
Net debt including leases totalled around £860m, which Wood said was inflated by higher interest rates and a tax impact from the sale of its built environment consultancy business. The debt figure is expected come down this year following planned disposals.
Reviewing the 2023 financial performance, Mr Gilmartin said: “We made significant progress in this first year of our three-year growth strategy.
“We delivered strong revenue and adjusted Ebitda growth, and we significantly improved operating cash flow.
“We continue to see clear business momentum, with a higher order book, double-digit growth in our pipeline and positive pricing trends.
“It is encouraging that the fastest growing parts of Wood are the higher-margin consulting business and our sustainable solutions across all areas.”
He added: “Ultimately, our priority remains sustainable cash generation and we expect to deliver significant free cash flow from 2025.”
Wood has operations in more than 60 countries.
Arvind Balan will join the firm as chief financial officer on April 15, it emerged yesterday. He will replace Highlands-born accountant David Kemp, who is staying on for a spell to ensure a smooth transition.
Mr Kemp, who hails from Thurso, revealed plans to retire last year. He has been CFO since May 2015.
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