The company, which provides engineering, construction and technical support services to the oil and gas and mining industries, said its backlog at the end of February increased to $2.73 billion (1.79 billion pounds), up 6 percent from December.

The pretax profit rose to $104.8 million (68.8 million pounds) in the year ended December 31 from $79.4 million (52.1 million pounds) a year earlier. Revenue increased 6 percent to $1.56 billion (1.02 billion pounds).

Analysts on average had expected a pretax profit of $96.6 million (63.4 million pounds) and revenue of $1.46 billion (958.82 million pounds), according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Kentz raised its final dividend to 9 cents per share from 7.3 cents a year earlier.

Shares in the FTSE 250 company closed at 414.7 pence on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

(Reporting by Karen Rebelo in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)