Market Report: Contract delays have increased the risk Petrofac will miss its 2014 targets
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Your support makes all the difference.Petrofac played the ugly sister to the Kentz Cinderella story yesterday as the oil services groups produced staggeringly different results.
Blue-chip Petrofac has not had a good year and yesterday cut its 2014 forecast by 18 per cent after contract delays that increased the risk next year’s earnings could miss targets too. Meanwhile, FTSE 250 Kentz predicted double-digit earnings growth in 2013 with new contracts and strong order intake of $1.8bn (£1.1bn) so far this year.
The oil services sector has suffered from fears of a slowdown since Europe’s largest energy engineering firm, Saipem, cut its profit forecast in February. Petrofac, down more than 27 per cent since the start of the year, lost 239p to 1,200p. Kentz added 9p to 548p.
The FTSE 100 index half-heartedly followed the buoyant Asian markets, ticking up 30.02 points to 6723.46 as traders waited for economic data today and later this week before taking positions.
Shore Capital reiterated its buy stance on Marks & Spencer, up 5p to 503.5p, and upgraded Sainsbury’s, up 2.5p to 411.5p, to buy.
Aberdeen Asset Management was up 62.9p at 489.7p after it bought Scottish Widows Investment Partnership from Lloyds Banking Group, which ticked up 0.79p to 76.17p.
Aveva’s enterprise solutions division, which focuses on IT systems for shipbuilding, power plants and the oil and gas industry, reported slower-than-expected growth in contrast to a rise in half-year pre-tax profit. Aveva was 201p weaker at 2,365p.
Imagination Technologies said that since buying Mips Technologies in February, it has already closed 22 Mips-related deals, and it jumped 15.7p to 255.8p.
The Wellcome Trust has raised its stake in Flybe to 4.96 per cent as the airline undergoes a turnaround plan and cost-cutting. It dropped 6.5p to 98p.
The business services provider Redcentric rose 9p to 92.5p after a share placing at 80p to fund the purchase of InTechnology’s subsidiary Managed Services for £65m.
Precious coloured-stones miner Gemfields broke two records at its latest rough emeralds and beryls auction, and was 0.875p up at 36.5p.
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