Profits at Irish engineering group Kentz Corporation have risen by 38 per cent as rising oil and gas production boosted demand for its services.
Kentz, which is based in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, said net income for the year ending December 31st, 2007 rose to $26.2 million from $19 million the previous year.
In a statement, Kentz - which raised around $132 million in a share sale last month - said revenue increased by 47 per cent to $544.6 million.
Kentz's clients are mainly in the oil, gas and mining sectors. They include Exxon Mobil Corp, Rio Tinto Plc and Kenmare Resources.
The company said its order backlog rose to $682 million in January from $544 million at the end of 2006.
"The continued growth of the world economy provides a favorable environment to underpin demand for Kentz' services in its core markets and sectors of oil, gas, petrochemical, energy, mining and metals," Kentz said in the statement.
Kentz, which employs 7,000 people worldwide, has operations in Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Madagascar, Russia, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Indonesia, USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia and Norway.