The CEO of engineering services heavyweight Worley, Chris Ashton, says the company views AI as “an amplifier of our people and their capability, not just as a way to deliver cost reductions” as the company becomes more agile and technology-enabled than ever.
Speaking at Worley’s 2025 annual general meeting, Ashton said technology was helping transform project delivery, “embedding data, digital and AI to increase speed, reduce rework and improve outcomes”.
“Our Advanced Development Lab develops and deploys AI-enabled solutions across design, scheduling, estimating, quality and field execution,” he said.
“Our Responsible AI Council sets the guardrails to scale innovation safely and ethically.”
Ashton told the meeting FY2025 presented a complex global operating environment “marked by economic and political shifts which impacted our customers’ investment decisions”.
Worley delivered a A$475 million net profit after tax and 10% year-on-year increase in EBITA to $823 million on $12,050 million of FY25 revenue, up 4% yoy. Energy generated 50% of Worley’s revenue; resources 26% and chemicals 24%. The company finished FY25 with a $16.9 billion work backlog after securing $17.1 billion of bookings during the year.
“Our result reflects the fourth year of consistent growth in revenue, earnings and margin through the disciplined execution of our strategy,” Ashton said.
“We’re targeting higher growth in revenue than FY2025 and growth in underlying EBITA. We expect the underlying EBITA margin, excluding procurement, to remain within a range of 9.0-9.5%.
“Whilst we continue to operate in a challenging environment we remain confident in the strength of our diversified business model, global scale and capability and market trends which continue to support medium to long-term growth.”
