LONDON (Reuters) – British offshore wind farm developer SeaEnergy is planning to set up a services division to take advantage of plans by the government to turn Britain into the world’s largest offshore wind market.

“I hope the services business will be put together this year. I’m working on it intently at the moment,” Executive Chairman Steve Remp told Reuters in a telephone interview.

SeaEnergy started life as oil services company Ramco in the 1970s and was at one point in the late 1990s the largest company on London’s junior AIM market.

Since deciding to exit its oil and gas assets last September, SeaEnergy has won the right to develop the Moray Firth zone off the coast of Scotland in conjunction with Portugal’s EDP Renovaveis in the UK’s Round 3 tender.

LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Construction firm Balfour Beatty <BALF.L> is betting any future UK government will maintain spending on its key infrastructure market but is continuing to expand overseas to ensure the group remains resilient.

“I have no different views to anyone else on government expenditure,” Chief Executive Ian Tyler told Reuters, referring to expectations there will be heavy public spending cuts after a general election due by June.

“However, there is a determination by the government and by the (main opposition) Conservatives to maintain infrastructure spend and things like transportation, education and power markets will see continued spend from government and industry.”

Tyler’s comments came after the company, Britain’s biggest infrastructure contractor, said 2009 trading was in line and that the range of its activities would ensure the group remained resilient.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has awarded energy companies the rights to develop the world’s biggest offshore wind project in hopes the country will become a leader in the emerging industry, which is vital to slash carbon emissions.

The Crown Estate, in charge of Britain’s coastal seabed, on Friday announced winners for the Round 3 tender, including Portugal’s EDP Renewables, Britain’s Centrica, Germany’s E.ON and Sweden’s Vattenfall.

In total, the government hopes the programme will deliver up to 32 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity, or enough to meet a quarter of the UK’s electricity need by 2020.

It is expected to bring a step change to the global offshore wind industry, which currently has installed capacity of only about 1.5 GW, accounting for mere 1 percent of the total installed wind capacity of around 150 GW, including onshore.

LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Britain has awarded energy companies the rights to develop the world’s biggest offshore wind project in hopes the country will become a leader in the emerging industry, which is vital to slash carbon emissions.

The Crown Estate, in charge of Britain’s coastal seabed, on Friday announced winners for the Round 3 tender, including Portugal’s EDP Renewables <EDPR.LS>, Britain’s Centrica <CNA.L>, Germany’s E.ON <EONGn.DE> and Sweden’s Vattenfall [VATN.UL].

For a table of winners of the tender, please click on [ID:nWLA2181]

In total, the government hopes the programme will deliver up to 32 gigawatts (GW) of generation capacity, or enough to meet a quarter of the UK’s electricity need by 2020.

LONDON (Reuters) – British energy services company Amec will ramp up acquisitions under its new plan to more than double earnings per share by 2015 and continue improving margins.

Chief executive Samir Brikho said Amec was targeting EPS of over 100 pence in 2015, compared with the 43.4 pence posted for 2008, and revenue growth would be ahead of the 8 percent annual average achieved by the firm since 2006.

The FTSE 100-listed company will focus on acquisitions in Australasia, South America – Brazil in particular – and the Middle East, Brikho told reporters after the group unveiled its “Vision 2015″ strategy Friday.

“The plan is still to continue with bolt-on acquisitions to be able to grow in many different places,” he said, adding that Amec would continue to look at bigger deals.

LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) – British energy services company Amec <AMEC.L> will ramp up acquisitions under its new plan to more than double earnings per share by 2015 and continue improving margins.

Chief executive Samir Brikho said Amec was targeting EPS of over 100 pence in 2015, compared with the 43.4 pence posted for 2008, and revenue growth would be ahead of the 8 percent annual average achieved by the firm since 2006.

The FTSE 100-listed company will focus on acquisitions in Australasia, South America – Brazil in particular – and the Middle East, Brikho told reporters after the group unveiled its “Vision 2015″ strategy on Friday.

“The plan is still to continue with bolt-on acquisitions to be able to grow in many different places,” he said, adding that Amec would continue to look at bigger deals.

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Britain’s former state monopoly BT Group <BT.L> could be allowed to increase fees it charges telecom rivals such as BSkyB <BSY.L> and Carphone Warehouse <CPW.L> in its push to reduce its gaping pensions deficit.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom, which sets the pricing for BT’s wholesale access division Openreach, said in a statement on Tuesday it would consider rethinking the way it takes BT’s pension costs into account when setting prices.

If it decides to include the cost of paying down the deficit, the charges could rise by 4 percent.

Shares in BT were up 1.2 percent at 1107 GMT.

LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) – British water regulators are set to confirm price cuts next week, cheering consumers but ignoring pleas from companies who may need to cut dividends and raise hundreds of millions of pounds from shareholders as a result.

In a draft five-year plan published in July, Ofwat surprised water providers such as United Utilities <UU.L>, Severn Trent <SVT.L>, Pennon <PNN.L> and Northumbrian Water <NWG.L> by calling on them to cut bills, rather than permitting increases.

“There could be some scope for Ofwat’s proposals to improve … although we see a dramatic change in the outcome as unlikely,” said Deutsche Bank analyst James Brand.

July’s draft also said the water companies would only be able to make a return on capital of 4.5 percent, calling into question their status as reliable dividend stocks and sparking a sell-off in the sector. [ID:nLM397666]

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Renewable Energy Generation is planning to significantly increase its wind power assets next year, while bringing its profitable waste cooking oil business to commercialization. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Whalley said the company planned to invest 100 million pounds ($166.6 million) over the next three years, mostly in expanding its operating wind assets.

“We’ve repaid all of our outstanding borrowing and have about 50 million pounds of cash on balance sheet, so enough to make the company quite a significant player in the renewables sector,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview on Thursday.

While REG’s main focus is wind energy, Whalley said REG is the only company in the UK that can turn waste cooking oil into fuel for electricity generation.

“It only needs a small investment of 5 million pounds over the next 12 months, which will take it to the stage where it can generate enough cash to fund itself internally,” Whalley said.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Renewable Energy Generation is planning to significantly increase its wind power assets next year, while bringing its profitable waste cooking oil business to commercialisation. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Whalley said the company planned to invest 100 million pounds ($166.6 million) over the next three years, mostly in expanding its operating wind assets.

“We’ve repaid all of our outstanding borrowing and have about 50 million pounds of cash on balance sheet, so enough to make the company quite a significant player in the renewables sector,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview on Thursday.

While REG’s main focus is wind energy, Whalley said REG is the only company in the UK that can turn waste cooking oil into fuel for electricity generation.

“It only needs a small investment of 5 million pounds over the next 12 months, which will take it to the stage where it can generate enough cash to fund itself internally,” Whalley said.