Trading Statement

John Wood Group PLC ("Wood Group")                       

     Pre close period trading update for the year ending 31 December 2008      

Wood Group, the international energy services company, issues the following pre
close update for the year ending 31 December 2008. The announcement of the
preliminary results for the year will be made on 3 March 2009.

Trading performance in 2008 has been strong and EBITA1 for the year is
anticipated to be in line with expectations.

In Engineering & Production Facilities, we have seen strong demand for our
Engineering services and have a healthy workload. In upstream, we continue to
be a global market leader in topsides engineering, with recent wins including
the ConocoPhillips Ekofisk development in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea
and topsides design for Modec for the first FPSO for the Jubilee field
development offshore Ghana. In subsea & pipeline engineering, we have
reinforced our position as the leading subsea and pipeline engineering
consultancy with further contract wins and with the acquisition of MCS, a
global market leader in riser and mooring design. In downstream, we have been
active on a wide range of projects related to legislative requirements and
debottlenecking. Our developing international presence includes the award of a
major new contract with Masdar in Abu Dhabi to provide front end engineering
and design services (FEED) to the world's leading carbon capture and
sequestration project, providing us with a key strategic position in this
important new market.

Within Production Facilities, demand for our production support services
continues to be driven by our clients' focus on maintaining production levels,
ensuring asset integrity, and developing their operations in new markets. In
the North Sea, during 2008 we won the duty holdership of a range of assets,
including the recent award of a major contract with TAQA for five former Shell
fields. In international markets, we have built strong positions in areas such
as Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Trinidad & Tobago. We have also expanded our
capability in safety and emergency response training with the acquisition of M&
O Global.

In Well Support, our Electric Submersible Pump artificial lift activities
continue to benefit from our clients' spending to enhance and prolong
production from existing oilfields. In Pressure Control and Logging Services
2008 has seen strong activity, although the expected reduction in US gas
drilling will impact future demand in our gas development related activities,
which represent around 6% of group revenue.

In Gas Turbine Services, our oil & gas production related activities, which
account for about a third of the division's revenue, continue to perform well.
In our Gas Turbines business, we are maintaining our focus on a range of
initiatives to increase our differentiation and to increase our margins over
time, including increasing the amount of revenue under longer term contracts,
internal restructuring and developing new products and service capabilities.
Enquiry levels in our fast track power business continue to be good, although
we are seeing delays in the timing of certain projects.

Our overall funding position is strong, with bank facilities of around $1bn
committed to July 2010. We expect to deliver an improved working capital
performance in the second half of 2008 which will drive strong operating cash
flow.

Looking to 2009, the global economic recession and significant fall in the oil
price are resulting in a more uncertain and challenging outlook. Indications
are that there will be a reduction in spending by clients, with a consequential
impact on service company activity. Our strong order book, our focus on
production support and longer term capital projects, our good international
spread and our high quality customer base will stand us in good stead in this
more challenging market.

ENQUIRIES

Wood Group

Nick Gilman / Bill Setter

Brunswick

Patrick Handley 020 7404 5959

1 EBITA represents operating profit before the deduction of exceptional items
and the amortisation of other intangible assets and is provided as it is the
key unit of measurement used by the company in the management of its
businesses.