The new year brought about a reversal of fortunes for UK-based contractor Amec, following a shaky end to 2002.

In December, Amec announced a shortfall in pre-tax profits for 2002 of about £15M. It blamed the slowdown in the economy for the cautious approach taken by industrial clients, which has meant that around 20 major international projects, with an aggregate value of £500M, have been deferred into 2003 or beyond. Amec’s share price responded by dropping to a two-year low of 147p.

Since then, Amec has announced that it has been selected for a major rail infrastructure contract in the UK, along with SPIE (the French contractor Amec is in the process of fully acquiring), by Network Rail. The 50/50 JV with Cogifer TF of France is expected to be worth around £100M to Amec SPIE Rail over seven years.

Recent project wins also include two significant tunnelling projects in the UK. News that is likely to make Amec’s tunnelling department sigh with relief, since it marks the first tunnelling win, of any note, since the company missed out on any of the major CTRL tunnelling contracts awarded in 2001.

The contracts are: a 2.5km-3km long, 3m diameter tunnel under the Thames at Dartford, UK, for National Grid; and a 3.3km long, 2.85m diameter sewer for Thames Water at High Wycombe, UK. Both contracts will use Lovat EPBM TBMs to bore through chalk, and are scheduled to commence in April 2003.