Oil services supplier John Wood Group PLC (LON:WG.) reported trading in line but said predicting future work was difficult.
Wood said the full-year outlook had not changed and there was no change to its pre-tax earnings guidance of around 20% down on 2015, as given in May.
The company said its engineering division was seeing some early signs of customers beginning to assess future projects.
But it added that a limited number of large-capex projects were coming to market in its subsea business and its ability to forecast future projects remained difficult.
Wood said its strong balance sheet and committed long-term financing was allowing it to reinvest in the business through acquisition and internal investment.
It still plans to increase its dividend per share by a double-digit percentage for 2016.
The group said in a trading update: "The current environment remains challenging, however we are encouraged by the recent upstream awards and feel well positioned for future activity in brownfield maintenance and US onshore."
Shares in Wood Group fell 19p, or 2.8%, to 651.5p in early London trading.