WOOD Group has moved to reduce its dependence on the beleaguered oil and gas industry by acquiring an English automation specialist that focuses on sectors such as car and food production.
The Aberdeen-based oil services giant has bought Automated Technology Group in what looks like a significant diversification move.
“ATG provides many opportunities … including growing our automation business to include manufacturing and expanding into the food and beverage and airport markets,” said Wood Group.
The price of the deal was not disclosed but looks likely to have been £20 million or more.
Oil and gas services companies are grappling with the effects of a sharp downturn in activity in areas such as the UK North Sea.
The plunge in the price of Brent crude, to around $48 per barrel yesterday from $115/bbl in June last year, has prompted firms that own oil and gas fields to slash investment and jobs.
Firms that provide services such as running production platforms face pressure to cut charges.
Led by chief executive Bob Keiller, Wood Group laid off 1,000 UK workers in the first half in response to the slowdown in the North Sea.
Bedfordshire-based Automated Technology Group generated sales of around £36m in the year to March 2015.
ATG says its solutions drive the production lines and supply chains of leading companies including Bentley, British Sugar and Scottish Power. Wood Group could sell ATG’s services to its global customer base.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel