Amec Foster Wheeler reports £307m increase in pre-tax losses amid ongoing takeover by Wood Group

Engineering and project management group Amec Foster Wheeler has reported a pre-tax loss of £542m ($684m), up by 130% from last year's loss of £235m on Tuesday (April 25).

The financial reports were recorded as of 31 December 2016.

Trading profit had overall decreased from £374m in 2015 to £318m in 2016. The Mining, Power and Process, and Global Power Group divisions alone reported an increase in trading profits.

The firm may be on the path to a more lean operating process, as the consolidated balance sheet indicated that total current assets increased by £294m to £2,166m. Moreover, non-current assets decreased by £593m to £3,107m during the year.

"Given conditions in natural resources end markets, our 2016 trading performance was robust, as we benefited from the breadth of our business —especially the record performance from solar — cost saving actions and the fall in sterling in the second half of the year" CEO John Lewis said.

"We continue to expect another year of decline in oil and gas activity in 2017 and for solar activity to reduce significantly from the record levels seen in 2016. It is also expected that there will be a better performance from environment and infrastructure and a further significant contribution from standalone overhead cost savings.

"This year, we will continue to leverage the outstanding technical expertise of our people to best serve our customers and deliver projects safely across all the markets in which we operate. This and the improvements we have made to the business will ensure we continue to make significant progress in 2017".

Wood Group is currently in the process of taking over Amec Foster Wheeler, with the valuation billed at £2.2bn.