Petrofac, the oil services company, continues to shrug off unrest in the middle east, with a batch of new orders and a positive start to the year.
The company, which helps build oil and gas installations in the likes of Oman and Saudi Arabia, said it had won orders worth $2bn so far this year. There were major awards in Algeria, Iraq and Malaysia, and chief executive Ayman Asfari said the company was increasingly confident it would produce like for like net profit growth this year of at least 15%.
The news has lifted the company's shares by 52p to £15.01, making it the biggest riser in the FTSE 100. Analysts at Evolution Securities said:
Despite the concerns over Middle East/North African unrest, it is business as usual for Petrofac – the $2bn of new order intake in the year to date underpins this.
Overall the market has come off its best levels, but the FTSE 100 is still 15.08 points better at 5960.04. Whitbread is up 44p at £16.77 after suggestions it could spin off its Costa Coffee business and some vague bid speculation.
A rebound in commodity prices continues to support mining companies, with Kazakhmys climbing 5p to £12.34 although again, the sector is below the peaks reached earlier in the day. Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index said:
Ultimately considering the volatility seen in the prices of commodities of late, most of the trades we have seen have been undertaken on short term contracts, and this raises the potential for quick bouts of profit taking with traders unwilling to take many risks.
Scottish and Southern Energy heads the FTSE 100 fallers, down 32p at £13.36 after downgrades from Citigroup and Matrix. Citi said:
Over the past 12 months SSE's shares have been one of the best performers in the sector, outperforming the group by 28% and outpacing the FTSE 100 by 16%. We change our rating from buy to hold following [this] strong performance.
While we still think the company is well placed in the UK energy market, we think this is now fully in the price. With low volumes likely in the residential supply business, outperformance may now be more challenging.
