Brunel (BRNL: NA), the Netherlands-based global energy staffing firm grew revenue by 18% on a like-for-like basis to €234.6 million in the third quarter of 2018 compared to the prior-year quarter.

The group reported EBIT growth of 72% to €12.0 million.

During the third quarter, Brunel said it completed the integration of Australia-based SES Labour Solutions, which was acquired in September last year. Brunel said the activities and management of SES Labour have proven to be a very good fit with the existing Brunel operations in Australia.

Brunel added that operating costs include continuous investments in technology and digital tools. These additional costs and the lower productivity limited its EBIT growth.

“The investments in technology and digital tools include pilots in new markets,” the group stated. “The pilot of our end to end platform ‘Pack’ in Amsterdam, will be concluded in Q4. The learnings of these pilots are, and will be, integrated across Brunel, to further differentiate our added value and to create more efficiencies. The additional costs of these market initiatives in 2018 are €2.5 million.

Revenue growth by region was as follows.

In Australasia the group reported like-for-like growth of -5% however the region reported 21% growth on a reported basis, which was the result of the acquisition of SES Labour Solutions.

In Rest of World, the group reported like-for-like revenue growth of 26%. The strong growth is driven by strong performances in the Americas and in the Russia & Caspian region.

In the US, the group’s shutdown and maintenance organisation, that they started last year, is close to completing the first project successfully and profitably. The group also reported that it won a significant project in the Permian Basin in Texas, the biggest shale oil producing region in the US. Brunel also opened an office there.

Jilko Andringa, CEO of Brunel, commented, “The third quarter results demonstrate continued acceleration of our growth, achieving double digit revenue growth in all our segments. Our performance in Europe continues to be strong, while we see even faster growth in all verticals (including Oil & Gas) outside of Europe. This shows our strategy to diversify to adjacent verticals is successful.”

“The fast recovery of the Oil & Gas industry is gaining pace, and the outlook for our activities within this industry are trending upwards as well,” Andringa said. “I’m confident that we are in a strong position to deliver on our promise to break old records in the years to come.”

Looking ahead, the group stated that it reiterates the outlook announced last quarter and expects to reach revenues of between €875 million and €925 million and EBIT between €32 million and €38 million for the full year 2018.

“The economic outlook for our sectors remains strong and we believe our diversification strategy, focused on high satisfaction among our direct and indirect employees and clients, will further increase revenues,” Brunel stated. “At the same time, we are full steam ahead with the investments in digital tools and solutions to drive our performance.”

As of last trade, Brunel International traded at €13.08, up 18.91% on the day and 23.05% above the 52 week low of €10.63 set on 26 October 2018. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of €556.32 million.