Prospering Petrofac poaches staff from struggling rivals

Oil services firm Petrofac today said it had capitalised on the downturn to poach staff from struggling rivals as it posted a 33% rise in profit to $353.6 million (£233.2 million) for 2009.

The company's chief executive and founder, Ayman Asfari, said: "We had a great year, with a $7.3 billion order book, but it's been a difficult market for many in our sector.

"So we've been able to hire very good-quality people, from senior managers to technical experts. We're now in a good position to push forward in 2010."

Asfari said Petrofac performed well in the downturn because of its work in the Middle East and central Asia "where clients continued to spend money".

Petrofac last week announced plans to spin off its North Sea oilfields with Sweden's Lundin Petroleum and float it separately on the London stock market. Today it said the new business, EnQuest, was on track for a 6 April listing.