Offshore Opportunities

Established in the North Sea in 1974, Sparrows Offshore Services Limited has seen massive growth in the past 10 years. An initial MBO with 3i during 2000 was followed by a secondary buy out of Sparrows by London Merchant Securities (LMS) and most recently by Close Brothers Private Equity during 2008.

Since then, The Energy Cranes Group, of which Sparrows is a major part, has seen further acquisitions by Energy Cranes of Martec Inc. in the US during 2002, American Aero & Titan cranes in 2003, Dynamic Cranes in 2006 as well as Marine & Mainland Inc., Aberdeen Hydraulics Ltd and Baricon Systems Ltd during 2007.

“Sparrows operates in a very specific niche market and has always excelled in delivering value to clients,” says Gordon McCombie, Group Business Development Manager.  “This has led to rapid international growth, and to an ability to deliver attractive returns to investors.”

International strategy

With over 1600 employees established across six continents, operating from 21 established service facilities, international business now accounts for over 50 per cent of Sparrows revenue.  Early export activities were originally driven by established UK clients inviting Sparrows to follow them into their developing overseas areas of exploration & production.

Since 1999, however, the business embarked on its own overseas commercial development strategy by first opening service facilities in Perth, Australia and Abu Dhabi, then in the US, followed by Azerbaijan and Brazil, and most recently in Indonesia, Singapore and Angola.

“We continually strive to raise standards and manage for efficiency which in turn delivers value to our customers,” says Gordon. “We are now being more speculative, identifying promising markets, establishing ourselves there and chasing contracts. This is what we have recently done in Singapore. We see great potential for growth in South East Asia which already has hundreds of platforms, is now moving into deeper water and is the centre of the worlds rig and FPSO construction and repair activities.”

People power

Sparrow’s commitment to training and employing local people has helped the company to become welcome in all host nations. While each new centre starts with a core of UK expatriate specialists, these immediately begin developing the necessary skills and disciplines in the local workforce. Already in Azerbaijan, Brazil, and Angola for example, the vast majority of employees are local nationals who have been trained by Sparrows Offshore to the international standards of the oil and gas industry.

“When we go into a new market, we don’t expect to be able to replicate the same set up as we have elsewhere,” says Gordon. “We recognise that every region has its own unique business circumstances, its own difficulties and challenges. But we know that our success is largely down to our people. Having a deep understanding of local requirements enables us to engage and develop local talent. We then make sure that our engineers and managers are sufficiently trained for the specific region in which they are working, and offer them all the support they need.”

Networking

When evaluating or entering new markets, Sparrows makes extensive use of networks to tap into local information and contacts. Key amongst these are the Energy Industries Council (EIC) and UK Trade & Investment.

“UK Trade & Investment provides companies like ours with a wealth of local knowledge and connections,” says Gordon. “Combined with the EIC’s local footprint and energy industry networks, this important partnership has served us well. Through participation in their joint trade missions, we have benefitted from their help with market evaluation and potential client introductions in several countries.  Attending UK Trade & Investment’s EIC Connect event in Hammersmith last year resulted in £80,000 worth of new business in the former Soviet Union.  This may be a relatively small project for the company – many of our overseas contracts are valued in millions – but it’s not a bad day’s work.”

Box out

The UK and Singapore

Singapore is the UK’s largest trading partner in South-East Asia and one of its largest export markets outside Europe. The UK is the largest investor in Singapore with over 700 UK companies based there. Ranked number-one globally by the World Bank in its ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report, Singapore is an ideal springboard to South-East Asia.

There are opportunities for British exporters in almost all commercial sectors, in particular advanced engineering, biomedical sciences, creative industries, education and training, environment, financial services, ICT, infrastructure development and oil & gas.

Fast facts

Company: Sparrows Offshore Services Limited

Country: UK

Industry: Oil and gas

Website: www.sparrowsoffshore.com