Kentz, the Clonmel-founded engineering firm that is the target of bid interest from rivals, delivered an upbeat outlook for the industry in its first half results this morning.

“Across the global engineering and construction space, many companies are indicating a more cautious outlook for the future than previously observed. However, the markets in which Kentz operates continue to be busy and the first half of 2013 has seen one of the most active periods of bidding ever experienced by Kentz,” it said.

The company reported pre-tax profit up 3 per cent at $52.7 million and raised its dividend by 20 per cent to 6.6 cents.

Earlier this month, the company rejected takeover approaches from larger London-listed rival Amex and Germany’s M+W Group, saying both undervalued the company.

Amec, a UK oil engineering company, made an approach to buy Kentz for as much as £680 million (€800 million) to expand its energy construction and services business.

Kentz also said that it had rejected a lower indicative approach made in July by Stuttgart company M+W Group.

Additional reporting: Reuters