WOOD Group has underlined its interest in acquisitions and said its maintenance business continues to benefit from high levels of activity seen in the North Sea and the US shale markets.

The Aberdeen-based oil services giant said it is on course to grow earnings in line with expectations in 2014, led by a strong performance by the PSN arm, which works on existing assets.

This has helped to compensate for a slowdown in spending on new projects by big oil and gas firms, which has weighed on Wood Group's engineering arm.

Majors have been under pressure to rein in spending on big projects and to increase payouts to investors.

In an Interim Managemen Statement on trading in the first nine months of the year, Wood Group highlighted the benefits it has enjoyed as a result of acquisitions made in the North Sea and US shale markets.

Led by chief executive Bob Keiller, Wood Group said strong growth in higher margin US shale activity reflected the benefit of the Elkhorn business it acquired last year, in a deal though to have been worth more than £100m.

The group said its North Sea business remains robust and is benefitting from the addition of new services through the acquisition of the Pyeroy coatings business last year, in a £30 million deal.

Wood Group is confident of increasing cash generation from its operations in the second half.

The group said: "The balance sheet remains strong and provides a good platform for organic and acquisition led growth."

When Wood Group announced its interim results in August Mr Keiller said: "The UK is an area where we see further acquisition opportunities." He also underlined the group's enthusiasm for the shale market in the US,

Wood Group said the full year outlook has not changed since the interim results statement in August. The group said then earnings before interest and amortisation (EBITA) should be up on 2013, led by growth in the PSN arm.

The group made $243.9m EBITA in the first six months compared with $243.2m in the same period last time.