with this moving and holding in there, the rumour of a 400p takeover (Sunday press/FT etc) that has been around for weeks may finally be transpiring....

Excellent trading update this morning, see below...............

AMEC said it has enjoyed another year of record performance with 2008 pre-tax profit expected to exceed 200m and EBITA margin expected to be aound 7%. Continued strength in demand saw the order book up around 40% in 2008.

The oil services company said net cash as at 31st December 2008 would be over 750m, compared to a year's average of about 625m.

CEO, Samir Brikho, said: '2008 was another year of significant progress for AMEC. During the last quarter, we were awarded a number of milestone contracts by customers that remain focused on long-term fundamentals. We continue to see a strong and diverse range of attractive prospective contracts across the business and have seen only minor delays and cancellations of prospective projects compared with those we would expect to see normally.

'We view the future with measured confidence. 2009 is expected to be another year of improved performance, driven both by the strength of our order book and increasing benefits from our Operational Excellence programme. AMEC's net cash position remains exceptionally strong and we continue to monitor opportunities for growth through selective acquisition.'

AMEC expects to announce preliminary results for the year ending 31st December 2008 on Thursday, 12th March 2009.

Amec held up very well today after the release of the trading statement.

They finished 6% up at 572p, I think the cash pile gives confidence in todays climate.

AMEC makes a good alternative to my other fave in this sector, PFC ...... i had a little run with these a few weeks and ultimately took my profits ...... however, with the market showing at least temporary resilience, and definite signs of resurgence of oilfield activity in saudi, i have just bought back in (818) ..... i particularly like the fact that the 25 dma has been providing good support

volume is normally only 1.2m, so pretty heavy today at 3m + strong performance .... can't be bad

A stock to go for UK Analyst

Pity Zac can't get the right chart up for amec....

Amec on Monday will be one to listen to, as it releases an interim update. The engineering, project management and consultancy company looks to be responding well to global demand, and the next couple of years are forecast to be pretty good as economic recovery is expected to continue. AMEC's strong cash flow and debt-free position make it look attractive.

It's not paying the highest dividends in the market, with 3% to 3.5% forecast for the next couple of years, but there's a buyback programme in place too, and the shares have rebounded impressively after the slump in the second half of last year.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4349156

AMEC , the engineering consultant focused on the resources industry, continued to rise one day after announcing it is on track to deliver double-digit percentage underlying revenue growth in 2012

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4424352

Looks like a decent set of results to me, but marked down over 5% in early trading, a question of sell on the news with this one I think.

,

StockMarketWire.com
Oil and gas industry service group AMEC this morning reported revenue of £2.026m in the half-year to end-June, up 37% on the prior year period.

Underlying revenue was up 28%: up 15% excluding £200m of incremental procurement.

The group said it is positioned for double-digit underlying growth, as expected.

EBITA of £152m was up 25%.

Margin of 7.5% was down 70 basis points largely as a result of increased procurement.

Diluted EPS from continuing operations was 36.1p, up 25%.

Operating cash flow was £142m, up £67m.

AMEC said order intake and forward visibility remain good.

The order book is strong at £3.7bn (June 2011: £3.4bn; December 2011: £3.7bn).

The group purchased £158m of shares under the £400m share buyback programme.

Interim dividend per share is up 15% to 11.7p.

CEO, Samir Brikho, said: "AMEC has had an excellent start to the year, with revenue growth boosted by phasing of project execution and procurement in our oil & gas and mining businesses in particular. This flowed into EPS, which was up 25 per cent at 36.1 pence, and operating cash flow - where we also achieved a good performance.

"We have completed two acquisitions year-to-date, expanding our engineering capability in the nuclear sector and further strengthening our geographic footprint in Australia. The pipeline of further acquisition opportunities remains good.

"The order book has been maintained at record levels. We see continued demand for our services, and this has not been significantly impacted by the on-going economic uncertainty. Second half revenues are anticipated to be maintained at broadly the same level as the first half, leaving us on track to deliver double-digit underlying revenue growth for the full-year. We expect to continue to deliver good growth in 2013."

Shore Capital downgraded the stock from buy to hold in response to this mornings results, with shrinking margins a concern.

Can't think that AMEC will stay down for long, we shall see.

engineering consultancy and contractor AMEC was the fourth-most purchased share by the broker TD Direct Investing's private clients this morning. The share fell by 6%, despite AMEC boasting a 37% boost in revenues, when it reported this morning. With a healthy order book and a 15% increase in the interim dividend, the drop in the share price would appear to reflect disappointment, not spooked investors.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4425560

That'll do for me.

Here she go's.

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Buy back programme announced now:http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4429253

AMEC wins $528m new refinery contract

At 8:11am: (LON:AMEC) AMEC share price was +9.5p at 1062.5p

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

L&G go above 3% on these.