Amec Foster Wheeler’s trading profit falls in H1

London-based LNG engineer Amec Foster Wheeler reported an 8 percent fall in its half-year trading profit mainly due to “challenging conditions” in the upstream oil and gas market.

Amec Foster Wheeler reported a trading profit of 162 million pounds ($210.2 million) for the period under review compared with 177 million pounds a year ago.

Pretax profit was at 77 million pounds as compared with a loss of 446 million pounds a year earlier while revenue dropped 18 percent to 2.33 billion pounds, the company said on Thursday.

Total order book value stood at 5.6 billion pounds in the first half, compared with 6.2 billion pounds a year earlier.

“I am encouraged that the first wave of benefits of the transformation programme we began last year is now evident,” chief executive Jonathan Lewis said.

“Although, as expected, some of our end markets remain challenging, I am pleased that we are making progress across the business – reinforcing the value of a multi-discipline and multi-market customer offering,” he added.

Looking forward, Lewis said that he was confident Amec Foster Wheeler “is now moving in the right direction, and I believe that our people and shareholders will have an exciting future as part of the Wood Group, once the deal closes in the fourth quarter.”