A slice of good news on the jobs front from engineering consultancy WS Atkins.
The company, which worked on the London 2012 Olympics, said staff numbers had increased by 2% between March and September to 17,756, with growing headcount in the UK. Chief executive Uwe Krueger said:
We are pleased to be recruiting again and, in particular, are delighted to welcome over 500 graduates to the group this autumn.
Half year profits rose 14% to £50.4m with a "solid performance" in the UK, strong growth in Asia Pacific, Europe and its energy business, but a challenging first half in north America and the Middle East, with contract delays. The company said:
The group has delivered a solid first half performance and enters the second half with good work in hand across the business. With group headcount growing we have good momentum going into the second half.
Atkins shares - caught in the backlash from Balfour Beatty's recent profit warning due to a dearth of large UK contracts - have jumped 11% on the results, up 71p to 709p. Analyst John Lawson at Investec said:
Atkins has reported solid interim results, slightly ahead of our view, and is not changing guidance for the full year. Encouragingly, the headcount is ticking up modestly (mostly in the UK and in energy) and work-in-hand is slightly ahead of this time last year. The stock might be marked up a bit today (as no surprises), but until we get some forward momentum on earnings we keep our hold recommendation.
David Brockton at Espirito Santo said:
While results reveal a challenging first half for the business they are nevertheless in line with our expectations and the business has shown signs of growth, with staff numbers up 2% on March 2012. However, short-term forecast risk from failure to resolve Middle East contract negotiations remains and this will limit near-term performance. The dividend yields 5.2% covered more than twice by earnings and underpinned by its net cash balance.
