New ways of maintaining ageing oil and gas assets have helped Global Energy Group achieve a rise in profits, chairman Roy MacGregor has said.
He also hailed Global’s Nigg Energy Park facility as establishing itself as “Scotland’s offshore renewables hub”.
Accounts loaded at Companies House for the Inverness and Aberdeen-based firm show pre-tax profits rose by nearly 14% to £4.8 million during the year to the end of March 2018.
This was despite a 5% drop in turnover to £289m amid signs of “shoots of recovery” in Global’s oil and gas core market.
Revenue was hit by a decline in income from capital expenditure in UK and international markets.
But the company said growth in other areas, including utilities, renewables, nuclear and the petrochemical sector, mitigated the impact.
Mr MacGregor added: “The group’s core market – oil and gas – is starting to see shoots of recovery into 2019, with the group seeing an increase in demand for its services. The current oil price, reduced capital spend and uncertainty has proved to be a catalyst for offshore asset owners to challenge conventional methods of maintaining their ageing infrastructure.
“The group experienced a positive response to its innovative and high-performance methods of delivering critical repairs and maintenance.”
After a spell of low activity during the North Sea slump, 2018 saw Nigg Energy Park – on the Cromarty Firth – working close to capacity, serving as a base for the construction of the Beatrice offshore wind farm and a range of oil and gas projects.