John Wood Group sees growth in 2023, momentum for 2024

Shares in engineering and consulting group John Wood Group (LSE: WG) were up 2.9% by 10:00 GMT on Friday after the FTSE 250 listed firm said it expects to report higher revenue and earnings for 2023 when it publishes full-year results on March 26.

The company forecasts revenue of around $6 billion for 2023, up 10% from 2022, driven by growth across all business units. John Wood also guided that adjusted EBITDA will likely come in “slightly ahead of guidance” at $420-425 million for 2023. The projects division saw impressive growth of about 10% to $2.5 billion in 2023, particularly in oil, gas and chemicals, while like-for-like revenue also expanded 7% to $2.5 billion.

Looking ahead to 2024, John Wood boasted an order backlog value of around $6.1 billion as of December 31, 2023, which it said will “support our growth expectations.” The company won several major contracts in 2023, including with Woodside Energy and Brunei Shell Petroleum worth a combined $2.75 billion over two years. While net debt rose due to forex headwinds, John Wood reiterated plans to deliver positive free cash flow in 2024.

CEO Ken Gilmartin said “our results continue to show clear progress” in the company’s strategic growth initiative. John Wood shares are up a modest 4% over the past year.

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