Aberdeen-based global engineering and oil services giant Wood plc on Wednesday announced the sale of its industrial services business to technical services provider Kaefer.

The sale will involve an initial cash consideration of circa $104 million and a further potential payment of up to $14 million pending achievement of agreed financial goals.

Wood said its 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.

“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,” said Wood.

“Cash proceeds from the disposals will be used to reduce debt.”

Wood chief financial officer David Kemp 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.”

Pre-tax profit for Wood’s industrial services business was $8 million in 2018 and its gross assets at year-end were $105 million.  

Wood employs about 60,000 people in more than 60 countries and has revenues of over $10 billion.