AMEC plc is having to pay almost £5 million to the Serious Fraud Office after uncovering 'irregular' payments made to it on a major project. Amec discovered 'certain irregular receipts' of around £5.5 million paid to the firm between November 2005 and early 2007 on the Iuncheon bridge project in South Korea. The company has agreed to pay £4.9 million plus costs under a Civil Recovery Order obtained by the SFO.

AMEC plc announced that is has been selected by Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) Limited to provide detailed design, procurement and logistics support services for the Kizomba Satellites project on Block 15, offshore Angola. This award continues a long history of collaboration and successful project development by AMEC on the Kizomba fields and progresses the front end engineering design work for Kizomba Satellites already completed by AMEC.

Amec Plc announced a 4% fall in pre-tax profits in the six months to June 30 but predicted a stronger performance in the second-half. Pre-tax profits fell to £88.4 million from £92.3 million in the same period in 2008. Sales remained roughly flat at £1.26 billion. Samir Brikho, the CEO, said: "These results, achieved in a challenging trading environment, are further evidence of our improved competitive position and internal efficiency. Our investment in developing relationships with key customers continues to result in new contract awards and the quality of our backlog has never been better." Mr. Brikho said Amec is scouting for acquisitions in the Middle East, Australia and South America in order to take the company forward.