BABCOCK International has won a $200m (#125m) contract to supply four
coal-fired boilers to two power stations in North-east China, which will
ensure employment for the 700 workers at the Renfrew manufacturing plant
and for the 400 designers and engineers at Crawley for the next two
years.
This base load is the precursor to at least one similarly-sized
contract which should be announced in the next month.
The letter of award has been signed between Babcock, Westinghouse
International and Sargant & Lundy, both of the US, and Huaneng Power
International for the design and construction of the two 700mw stations
in the Liaoning Province at Dandong and Dalian.
The total value is some $600m. Full details will be announced after
the formal signing next month.
Duncan Fox, managing director of Babcock Energy, said that ''we are
delighted at securing this new business which underlines the strength of
our technology and international competitiveness.''
Babcock is currently bidding for a lot of work in China, a company
spokesman said. The restructuring of the last two years means that
Babcock can now win against the best in the world.
In the last 2[1/2] years, the Renfrew workforce has fallen from around
2400 employees as the company grappled to come to grips with costs as
part of its survival strategy. That included a complete management
reshuffle and a #79m rights issue.
Babcock's negotiating position has been helped by the $2000m credits
advanced to China by the British Government, where one of the
stipulations is that component manufacturing should take place in the
United Kingdom.
The company has formed a joint venture with Wuhan Boiler Works which
won its first order last May. But in that case, only Crawley is
contributing significantly through design expertise with manufacturing
taking place in China.
* Gallaher yesterday slapped a ''for sale'' sign on its 700 Forbuoys
outlets and the Prestige housewares business.
The sell-offs will leave Gallaher with brands like Benson & Hedges,
Silk Cut, Hamlet and Old Holborn, plus Whyte & Mackay whisky and
Vladivar vodka.
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