Wood Group buys Canadian engineer in £9m deal

Aberdeen-based off-shore giant Wood Group has bought Canadian engineering consultancy Beta Machinery Analysis in a $14.3m (£9.1m) deal.

Wood said the purchase of Beta would strengthen its capabilities in the testing and inspection of piping systems and machinery.

Calgary-based Beta, which employs about 100 people in Canada, the US, China and Malaysia, specialises in advanced vibration analysis of piping systems and will become part of Wood Group’s Kenny division.

Beta will continue to be led by its existing management team.

Wood Group Kenny chief executive Bob MacDonald said: “Beta complements our existing services globally, providing service line expansion, further enhancing Wood Group Kenny’s integrity management capabilities.

“Wood Group and Beta are an excellent fit both operationally and culturally.”

Beta president Russ Barss, added: “With the support and strength of Wood Group, we can provide an enhanced global breadth of service to our customers. We are well aligned culturally, and our values are one and the same where safety, quality and integrity are major priorities.”

Wood Group currently employs about 12,000 people in the UK, and has already cut rates for contractors and frozen employees’ salaries in the industry’s fight against the effects of the downturn in North Sea activity.

Although Wood Group said that its figures for the first six months of the year would demonstrate its “resilience”, they will be down on the same period last year. However, it insisted that full-year underlying earnings would be broadly in line with City forecasts of about $469 million (£298m).