News on 12 January 2001

Amec has adopted a new reporting format which it hopes will enhance clarity and lead to a greater understanding of its activities. The change was announced as Amec issued an upbeat statement that it had traded in line with the company's expectations through 2000 and strengthened its global services and engineering capability through the acquisition of AGRA Inc. in North America.

The new format, to be adopted for the 2000 preliminary results, due in March, reflects the addition of extensive consulting and professional engineering services to Amec's North American operations.

If AGRA (acquired in April 2000) and the environmental consulting business (acquired in November 2000) had been included for the full year, consulting and design services turnover in 2000 would have been approximately £350m, against £31m in 1999.

The revised business segments are (with re-stated 1999 turnover in brackets):

Client support services (£975.5m)
- Consulting and Design Services
Engineering, process and architectural consulting and design; technology
and process optimisation.
- Operations Support Services
Provision of outsourced operations, maintenance and renewal.

Capital projects (£2,101m)
- Construction Management
Management of projects on behalf of clients, contracted on a fee basis.
- Construction
Procurement and construction in selected sectors.

Investments (£76.2m)
- Property Development
Property development projects with managed risk and specialism in urban
regeneration.
- Public Private Partnerships
Finance/design/build/own/operate/transfer projects for public
infrastructure where governments seek private sector equity partners.

Whilst the outlook for UK rail maintenance remains uncertain, Amec's core
businesses in Operations Support Services continue to grow, reflecting the increasing outsourcing opportunities in the UK and France.

Margins on consulting and design fell slightly from 5.8% in 1999 to 5.0% for the first six months of last year. Operations support services achieved 3.8% in the first half of 2000, well ahead of construction and construction management (1.6%) which still account for more than 60% of turnover.

AMEC made significant investments in internal web-based systems and e-commerce related initiatives last year (£0.9m on e-commerce) and the company says technology will play an increasing role in Amec's future business. Investment in these areas will continue in 2001 and beyond.

Commenting on financial performance in 2000, Chief Executive Peter Mason,
said: "Amec has had another successful year. Trading remained in line with our expectations at the time of the interim results announcement in August. At £5 bn, Amec's and SPIE's order books remain healthy with a continuing focus on recurring revenues from long term or repeat customers. Looking ahead, we anticipate continued strength in our core market areas and, given the steps taken in 2000 to improve shareholder value, further good progress is expected in 2001."