Air Energi delivering on strategic vision

Air Energi Group, the global workforce solutions provider for the oil and gas industry, has published its financial end-of-year report for 2013. With turnover up 33% to £385m and gross profit up 27% to £44m year-on-year, the results confirm that the company has continued to build on its impressive growth record and deliver on its strategic vision of providing clients with unrivalled service, global reach and end-to-end delivery capability.

“Air Energi’s financial results for 2013 are all the more impressive because this is the sixth consecutive year we have delivered substantial growth,” says Ken McPherson, Group Finance Director, Air Energi. “We are also delighted to have added RBS to our global banking syndicate, while bringing ANZ on board for Papua New Guinea ensures we have the banking support necessary to implement our exciting plans for future growth.”

Over the past 12 months, Air Energi has expanded its presence in the US shale market with the opening of offices in Midland, Texas and Denver, Colorado. The company also completed two significant acquisitions in the form of Inspirec Limited, the leading specialist recruiter for New Zealand’s energy industry, and South Korea’s Kitco. As one of the leading suppliers of local manpower, training, accommodation and procurement services, Kitco marks a major milestone for the Air Energi Group, giving the company first mover advantage from a ‘one-stop shop’ global workforce solutions perspective and providing a solution to the challenge of finding suitable accommodation for expatriate workers in a nation accounting for 48 per cent of the global offshore shipbuilding market by value.

“Acquisitions are part of our strategic armoury to deliver growth,” states Ian Langley, Group Chairman, Air Energi. “Air Energi’s acquisition of Inspirec presents significant opportunities for our workforce solutions in what is a relatively uncontested and rapidly growing energy market. Meanwhile, Kitco presents oil and gas operators using Korean shipyards with a compelling case to consider Air Energi as a trusted partner for the complete project lifecycle. It also provides us with a springboard for further expansion into North Asia. We are actively pursuing further acquisitions and are now looking to expand into Africa and China, with a focus on LNG projects in particular.”

Duncan Gregson, Group CEO, Air Energi adds, “We have continued to invest in our operational support systems, business development, and portfolio of services. We have realigned our service lines into three distinct streams – Talent Acquisition, Global Mobility Services and Integrated Project Solutions. We believe that this realignment has substantially improved the communication of Air Energi’s capabilities and experience to clients and candidates.”

The results of these changes are flowing through in the form of new contract and project wins with major global operators including BG Group and Statoil. In addition, the company has developed an innovative people risk assessment tool for projects (PREP) in conjunction with Queensland University of Technology. PREP is an interactive, web-based risk assessment tool has been created to meet the industry’s need for a risk-based, strategic approach to comparing, collectively and numerically, the various aspects of people-related workforce risk that may endanger project budgets and schedules. PREP can be used to measure the effectiveness of risk management strategies over the lifecycle of projects.

“We continue to see the results of our business development and delivery efforts in contract awards, growth in the number of consultants working (we are at 3400 consultants), and an increase in fee income (up 28% in the first half of 2014),” continues Gregson. “Innovation has also been central to our growth. PREP is attracting strong interest and proving an excellent draw for the top levels of our current and prospective clients, opening up opportunities across the Group.”

Air Energi’s success has been cemented with industry award recognition, having recently been awarded Best Engineering Recruitment Agency at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence, as well as being shortlisted for nine prestigious Expatriate Management and Mobility Awards.

Adapted from a press release by David Bizley

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