Ex-Wellstream Chairman takes the chair at Lamprell

Struggling specialist engineering services provider Lamprell has named industry veteran John Kennedy as its new non-executive Chairman.

The group moved fast to replace Jonathan Silver after he decided he is too busy to carry on in the role and moved to the position of Deputy Chairman.

Kennedy was previously Executive Chairman of Wellstream Holdings until it was acquired by US industrial holding company General Electric. He has previously worked for project management firm Schlumberger and oilfield services titan Halliburton.

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Meanwhile, as Kennedy comes in through the door, non-executive director Brian Frederick goes out. Frederick resigned from the board with effect from June 14th.

Kennedy will be expected to steady the ship at Lamprell after a couple of profit warnings, the most recent of which came in early June. The group has experienced progressive delays in key specialised vendor equipment for new build jack-up projects, as well as slippage in the award of new project contracts.

On the operational side of things, Lamprell said it has now successfully delivered Hull 108, thereby meeting the terms of its contract with Grupo Mexico.

Lamprell took over the contract from Maritime Industrial Services (MIS) when it acquired the firm in July 2011. As a result of the successful delivery of the rig, Lamprell will repay $70m of debt to MIS which was outstanding under an acquisition term loan.

Hull 108, a completely outfitted and equipped, self-elevating mobile offshore drilling platform, is designed to operate in water depths of up to 300 feet and has a rated drilling depth of 30,000 feet.

The platform was under construction by Maritime Industrial Services at the time of the acquisition. The fabrication of the jack-up rig was completed in Lamprell's Sharjah yard and delivery has been completed on time.

Chief Executive Officer, Nigel McCue, said: "We are delighted to be announcing the delivery of this rig on schedule and we continue to believe the Gulf of Mexico represents an exciting market for Lamprell.

"We are also pleased to be clearing the debt related to the acquisition of MIS and also the project debt, which is in line with the commitments made at the time we acquired MIS. We believe this demonstrates the underlying strength of the group's balance sheet."

NR