UK’s Wood Plc forecasts lower annual revenue as H1 profit falls

Wood Plc forecast on Tuesday lower annual revenue after the engineering and consultancy firm reported a 14.1% fall in first-half profit, hurt by a drop in contracts from the energy sector due to weak oil demand.

The British firm, whose clients include Scottish gas network operator SGN and Shell (LON:RDSa) plc, is under pressure from weakened global oil demand that has led to the cancellation of contracts by energy customers.

The Aberdeen-based company forecast annual revenue between $6.6 billion and $6.8 billion, lower than its year-ago revenue of $7.56 billion.

Wood said it expects annual profit margins in the range of 8.7% to 8.9%, buoyed by an uptick in activity in its high-margin consultancy business that provides services to energy and infrastructure companies.

The company’s adjusted core profit came in at $262 million for the first half ended June 30, compared with $305 million a year earlier.