Amec Foster Wheeler Plc (NYSE: AMFW) said it has appointed Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) executive Jonathan Lewis as chief executive on April 27.

Lewis is replacing long-serving CEO Samir Brikho who left unexpectedly in January. His main priority will be to reach the British oil and gas services company's target to halve debt before June 2017 and to boost investor confidence in the company after it chopped its dividend at the end of last year.

Lewis, who will receive an annual base salary of 775,000 pounds (US$1.13 million), takes over at a company facing record-low investments from its key oil and gas customers amid weak oil prices. After taking up his role on June 1, interim CEO Ian McHoul will return to his role as CFO full time.

Amec said in a trading update on April 27 that it expected a slight decline in revenue this year and that net debt was expected at 1 billion pounds (US$1.46 billion) by the end of the year, roughly in line with end-2015 levels.

It also reported a 1.5% fall in first-quarter revenue to 1.3 billion pounds and said its order book had shrunk 3% to 6.4 billion pounds over the first three months of the year.

Amec said it was in negotiations with a number of interested buyers for its Global Power Group, which it put up for sale earlier this year.

"Other businesses/assets that have been identified as non-core are also being prepared for sale," the company said. (US$1 = 0.6862 pounds)