Wood Group pulls dividend, cuts executive pay, axing some staff

Wood Group pulled its dividend, implemented a 10% pay cut for executive directors and admitted it would have to axe some staff as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was felt through the business.

As oil prices collapsed the company said it would “regrettably” have to fire staff, while others would be placed on furlough, unpaid leave or have their hours cut in an effort to save £40m.

Other overhead cost reductions included axing discretionary spend, travel costs and further utilisation of shared service centers and high value engineering centers, Wood said on Thursday.

It also cut capital expenditure by up to $25m, which included postponing the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system.

The final dividend of 23.9 cents per share would be cancelled, saving of $160m. Wood added that it expected some of its $8bn order book to be cancelled or postponed on the back of the collapse in oil prices.