Kentz secures €170m South Africa contract

CLONMEL-BASED engineering firm Kentz has won a $250 million (€170m) contract in South Africa.

This is the second contract the firm has won over the past few days.

Earlier in the week it said it had secured a contract, believed to be worth close to €27m, to build a road for an Exxon Mobil oil well in eastern Russia.

As part of the latest contract Kentz will supply and install equipment in Eskom’s Medupi power station in South Africa.

It will partner German company GEA Energy Technology on the project at the coal-fired station.

The contract is for four and a half years.

Kentz began trading on London’s Alternative Investment Market in February.

It has won five major contracts since listing on the market.

The flotation of the company, which provides a range of electrical and engineering services to the exploration and construction industries, was billed as potentially one of the biggest flotation’s in London this year, valuing the firm at more than €180m.

Kentz has grown strongly since becoming an international entity in the 1990s.

Its rebirth followed the original incarnation of the company, MF Kent, going into administration in the 1990s after the failure of an international contract.

The company has annual sales of nearly €250m, pre-tax profits of nearly €17m and employs more than 7,000 people worldwide.

Its clients include FÁS, the ESB, Aughinish Alumina, GE, Guinness, Ericsson, Exxon Mobil and Chevron.