Wood turns a loss as COVID-19 hits global EPC market

Wood swung into a pretax loss in 2020 as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit the global engineering and consultancy market and oil prices were volatile.

The company posted a pretax loss of US$228mln compared with a profit of US$73 mln in 2019. Revenue dropped 24% to US$7.6bn as conventional energy activity fell significantly.

However, there was some strength in the built environment, growth in renewables and relatively robust revenues in process and chemicals.

Short-term challenges remain in some of its markets, it said, adding that further ahead there is a positive outlook as the global economy recovers.

"We saw growth in renewables activity, strength in the built environment and relatively robust revenue in process & chemicals and we continued to win work, against the challenging backdrop of COVID-19 and oil price volatility," said chief executive Robin Watson.

"While near-term headwinds remain in 2021, we saw improving momentum in awards in late Q4 and are encouraged by the medium-term outlook for our markets," he said.

"Our 2020 full year results reflect relative revenue resilience in the c65% of our portfolio focused on the built environment; renewables and other energy; and process and chemicals," he added.

The company said it will not pay a final dividend as it sought to protect cash flows and ensure balance sheet strength.

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