John Wood Group

The business was founded by Ian Wood in 1982, when it split away from JW Holdings, the largest fishing company in Scotland. JW Holdings had diversified into the energy services business at the outset of the North Sea oil industry in the early 1970s.The company acquired Mustang Engineering Inc, an engineering business based in Houston, Texas in September 2000.In 2002 the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange.In March 2017, the company announced it would acquire its rival, Amec Foster Wheeler, in an all stock deal, valued at approximately £2.2 billion. The transaction was completed on 9 October 2017.In 2020 the nuclear business, mostly decommissioning work at Sellafield, was sold for £250 million to the US Jacobs Engineering Group which has a global nuclear business. The sale will reduce company debt and supports its increasing focus on growing areas like renewables.The company announced in February 2022 that it would make a loss of approximately US$222million on an anti-missile defence facility for the United States Army Corps of Engineers.In June 2022, the company announced the sale of its built environment consulting business to WSP Global Inc for approximately US$1.9billion.Later that month, Wood appointed Ken Gilmartin as its new CEO. Gilmartin joined company in August 2021 as Chief Operating Officer following a 15-year career at Jacobs.