WS Atkins Share Discussion Threads

[whoppy] 04/2/2009 15:51

Finance director has resigned.

[scott1978] 23/1/2009 11:04

Well, Cardiff office need to find £900k within the next 30 days, after that Bristol office will pick who they want, the rest I'm affraid are made redundant.

The Cardiff office were losing money hand over fist. The problem with that particular office is that there were far too many managers on high grades which come with high salraries/cars and not enough work to pay them, also the fees they charge for work to cover their overheads was astronomical, so companies weren't using them.

Also, White Young Green closed a couple of departments in their Cardiff office yesterday.

[leadingladies] 22/1/2009 23:15

Not quite correct Scott

ALL Staff within the Design Solutions division of the company have been put on notice of redundancy in Newcastle, Stockton, Cardiff, Edinburgh & Birmingham. A proportion of staff working for Design Solutions in Leeds + Oxford have been put on notice of redundancy. In total 260 people affected. No offices have as yet been closed but looks like some consolidation will take place. Consultation process underway to try and redeploy affected staff. Not good by any stretch of the imagination but perhaps not as bad as you infer

[scott1978] 22/1/2009 09:35

Atkins have just closed Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh & Stockton offices.

[protean] 04/12/2008 17:43

Tipped by Midas as a BUY today:

Midas verdict: WS Atkins shares have come off their recent lows and now stand at 601p but they have still halved in value since the beginning of this year. Analysts predict steady growth over the next three years, underpinned by a solid dividend and a yield of around 5%. Buy.

[haywards26] 30/11/2008 16:10

WS Atkins is on my watchlist as is Balfour Beatty. Companies with cash in the bank, visible forward earnings, to an extent recession proof and A1 class debtors (government agencies etc) I missed buying in below 5.80. The recent market upward movements have taken WS Atkins above £6 backed by the strong recently released news. But I do believe the next 12 months of the stock market will see further falls in general due to the recession and economic problems we have. Sitting and waiting currently. Just not confident the recent gains will not be wiped out over the short term.

[allseeingeye] 28/11/2008 15:58

In danger of talking to myself here - below should be excellent news for Atkins...

The new planning and local transport acts have both gained royal assent.
Under the Planning Act 2008 councils lose powers over applications for major infrastructure projects, which will instead be decided by an Infrastructure Planning Commission, comprising government-appointed experts.

The commission will operate within planning policy statements approved by parliament, and councils will be as consultees.

Statements are proposed on: energy, fossil fuels, renewable energy, electricity networks, gas and downstream oil infrastructure, nuclear power, ports, strategic highway and rail networks, aviation, water supply and waste water treatment and non-nuclear hazardous waste.

Communities secretary Hazel Blears said the new act would speed up applications for major projects.

[allseeingeye] 27/11/2008 10:35

Below interesting read from Contract JournaL:


15:16 26 Nov 2008
By John Leitch

Atkins continues to offer new jobs even after taking on more than 1,000 new employees in the first half of the year.

Keith Clarke, chief executive, reports: "We are advertising because we have still got job places, though it is now more cautiously than before. It is certainly easier to find people now.

"Atkins is seen as a safe haven and the fact that we have cash in the bank is a further plus for us.

"We started actively searching for 1,000 more people a while ago when we saw that there was more work being offered which we thought we could win if only we had the additional skills."

As a result of that surge of growth, Atkins' total headcount has jumped to over 18,300.

Half the 1,000 new posts were to handle extra work in the Middle East, the balance to cater for potential projects in the UK."

Having decided to take the plunge, in what was something of a chicken-and-egg scenario, Clarke says that the group's optimism proved well placed as, subsequently, much of what was 'potential work' was actually won.

"We said last year that Atkins was resource-constrained rather than market-constrained," he recalls, "and in places that is still true though some bits of the market are slowing."

What is the picture going forward?

"Some clients are seeking to accelerate their programmes," says Clarke, "while some say they are re-profiling – they never use the word delay. That leaves a few more who report that they are heavily re-profiling – they never cancel.

"We've been seeing this greater fluidity over plans for the past 18 months.

"In Dubai, for example, some of the more exciting (in other words challenging) projects are being delayed.

"Different sectors are reacting differently. We still see clients suddenly wanting work and it's harder to predict the market's overall needs."

It is government clients, both national and regional, who are calling to see if things can be speeded up.

'Do you have the capacity to bring things forward?' is a question that has been posed many times to Atkins in the past fortnight as the Alastair Darling stimulus kicks in.

However Clarke expresses caution over the achievability of Darling's push for glory.

The public sector finds it difficult to get work to market already, he observes, noting the difficulty government departments already have in spending the full funding allocation that already sits on their plates.

Even so, Atkins has taken a view on the achievable acceleration that the Darling effect will produce and plans have been hatched in order to have the capability of covering the anticipated upswing.

[allseeingeye] 27/11/2008 10:13

Fantastic results and obvious now Atkins has just been dragged down by rest of market. £17 still a long way off but a quiet achiever that is well worth accumulating.

[royaloak] 27/11/2008 09:44

Did not realise it would reach my target the next day! No logic in the market though, sold off last night toward close to 550 and opened this morning at 547.5!

[royaloak] 26/11/2008 11:48

Surprised no comment on here after storming results, look at the fundamentals, look at the chart, reckon this could break above 600 within the next few weeks. Of course the usual rider the volatile markets, if they improve these should outperform imho!

[allseeingeye] 25/11/2008 12:02

From Sharecrazy broker round up this am...Citigroup has a buy and £17 target for WS Atkins.

Hmmm - what do they know that the rest of us don't or maybe a last hurrah before an analyst shown the door in Citi's job cuts!!

[hy3nas4] 24/11/2008 09:10

From The Sunday Herald

Engineering consultancy WS Atkins, which has been working on the Glasgow airport rail link and the Edinburgh-Glasgow electrification projects, is likely to cite its increasing rail business as a key factor behind a resilient set of interim results on Wednesday.

[deadly] 27/7/2008 22:05

Seems like a dead thread, and no interest in ATK any more.

But the director trading has been interesting, with K.Clarke selling 2460 at 968p then buying back 4500 at 888p.

[sweb] 21/6/2007 11:25

up 3% one day down 5% the next. It can't be down to the metronet announcement as Balfour are up on the day??

[sweb] 06/6/2007 16:06

what has happened to Atkins. They have dropped more than the average today and have dropped 12% in the last month?

Short term view?

Long term?

[dan_dare] 21/5/2007 10:17

Consolidation from the rise from 900 - this is the top of the cycle. I would expect some consolidation now although it will probably retest the high before it does. All IMHO

[maiseymouse] 18/5/2007 13:21

is the fall today all down to teathers ???

[finess] 18/4/2007 18:11

I sold first thing, B------s.

[siskinbird] 18/4/2007 12:23

Is there no-one out there? What a performance today after a very positive update. We're flying!

[finess] 01/3/2007 18:26

Urchin
Are you still in funds

[finess] 06/2/2007 13:33

I dont know were this is going, but not complaining.

[slydini] 09/1/2007 10:39

WS Atkins worth an investment despite Metronet burden.........

[napoleon 14th] 06/1/2007 00:08

So, back to the 840s on a broker buy note......