'Good year' for RPS despite slowdown in Australia

Consultant engineering firm RPS group said 2013 was a good year for the company, despite a major slow down in the Australian resources market.

The company said revenue rose to £567.6 million last year, up from £555.9 million a year earlier. Pretax profit rose to £43.6 million from £40.2 million in 2012.

RPS said growth was driven by the diversity of activity and its geographical locations, factors that would bolster growth in the coming year too. Three quarters of underlying profit is generated outside Europe, and the firm has offices in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, the United States, Canada, the Middle East and Australia/Asia Pacific.

RPS said it has £77 million committed to new acquisitions, and bank facilities of £125 million that are available until midway through 2016.

“Our range of activities and geographic spread will enable us to generate further growth as the global recovery develops further. We continued to deliver our strategy by investing in a number of high quality acquisitions in attractive markets. The Board is confident this will enable us to perform well in 2014,” said chairman Brook Land