Wood reaches agreement to sell industrial services business

John Wood Group PLC announces today the sale of its industrial services business to technical services provider, Kaefer, for an initial cash consideration of circa $104 million and a further potential payment of up to circa $14m pending achievement of agreed financial goals.

The divestment is another important step in Wood’s portfolio rationalisation strategy and follows the planned sale of the company’s nuclear business, which was announced in August 2019 and is expected to complete in Q1 2020. Cash proceeds from the disposals will be used to reduce debt.

David Kemp, Wood’s chief financial officer said: “The sale of our industrial services business is the latest divestment aimed at maintaining our strong balance sheet and achieving our target leverage.

“As our focus has moved towards building a premium, differentiated and higher-margin business, the industrial services offering is no longer core to our strategy. However, it is an excellent fit with Kaefer who see a clear opportunity to grow the business further and extend its market share across new sectors and geographies.”

Wood’s industrial services business provides integrity and fabric maintenance for assets in the marine, process energy, offshore oil & gas and infrastructure sectors across the UK and Ireland.