Clonmel-based engineering firm Kentz is to float on London's AIM next Tuesday. The flotation is tipped to be the biggest IPO of the year in London.
Kentz will start trading with a market cap of €200m.
The company's clients are mainly in the oil, gas and mining sectors and it operates in some of the most remote locations on earth. Its main activities are the provision of mechanical, electrical, controls and instrumentation engineering, construction and management services.
It has operations in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Madagascar, Russia, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Indonesia, USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, Norway and Ireland. It employs over 7,000 people on a full time basis.
Kentz generated revenues of $370m and pre-tax profits of $25m in 2006.
'Oil, gas and other commodity prices are at an all-time high and are driving significant capital expenditure in these sectors,' commented Hugh O'Donnell, the company's CEO.
'This has driven demand for the engineering and construction services in which Kentz specialises, and we believe that the company is ideally-positioned to benefit from the continued capital expenditure that is expected to continue within these industries,' he added.
