Engineering group posts strong results and UK growth, as it announces £199m Canadian oil and gas acquisition
Engineering group WSP increased revenue and profitability by over 50% in its first full year of trading after being bought by Canadian consultant Genivar, the firm has announced.
WSP was acquired by Toronto-listed Genivar in a deal valued at £278m in August 2012 to create a 15,000-strong firm. But the combined firm took WSP’s brand from 1 January this year due to the former firm’s wider global presence.
WSP posted revenue of CAN$2bn (£1.1bn) for the year to 31 December 2013, up 60% on the previous year’s CAN$1.3bn (£685m), a figure that did not take into account a full year of trading for the newly-merged firm.
Underlying profit, known as Ebitda, grew by 58% to CAN$171.1m (£93.2m), up from CAN$108.6m (£59.2m) the previous year.
The firm’s UK division posted revenue of £169m and Ebitda of £15.6m.
Its profit margin of 9.2% was below the average margin across WSP’s global business, which was 12.2%.
Comparative like-for-like figures for 2012 were not provided, but WSP’s UK managing director Mark Naysmith told Building the firm grew 7% last year, due to “improved performance in our property and infrastructure divisions”.
Naysmith said he expected further growth in UK revenue this year as the property and infrastructure divisions continue to grow, with growth spreading from London to the regions, while the UK division was targeting an “11 to 11.5% profit margin by the end of 2015”.
He said growth in profitability would come from “growth in the sectors we’re in and making the business more efficient and effective”.
He added: “We’re also seeing fee increases, particularly in front-end planning and in the commercial market.”
Naysmith said the global business’ rebrand to WSP “spoke volumes about the strength of the WSP brand”.
Although WSP’s headquarters is in Montreal, Naysmith said each regional business – including the UK business – is “managed autonomously, providing we align ourselves with the group strategy”.
WSP also announced it has hired Simon Kydd from Balfour Beatty to become UK head of healthcare.
WSP’s results came as it announced it has acquired 1,700-strong Canadian engineering and geomatic surveying firm Focus for CAN$366m (£199m) to boost its presence in the booming oil and gas sector.
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