On 3rd July PFC announced that it was trading well ahead of expectations. Not surprisingly, sp jumped but has now fallen back pretty much to the same level as before the announcement.

While perhaps not as exciting as finding the next Cairn, remember that in the goldrush days, it was rarely the prospectors who made the money, but rather the suppliers of the spades and tents and stuff - e.g. Levis if memory serves me aright.

a synopsis of the BUY recommendation in today's telegraph following yesterday's outstanding results ..... I have been out of these for a good while, but have just bought back in .....


Questor says BUY
managed to beat expectations in its full-year results ..... around 6pc ahead of consensus ....... Gross cash balances at the end of 2008 stood at $694.4m, an increase of $112.8m over the year ...... very little debt, which means its net cash position stands at $551.8m ..... net margins in 2009 would be in line with recent levels, implying margins of 9pc to 10pc.

The shares are trading on a 2009 prospective multiple of 7.8 times, falling to 6.3 times in 2010. This is historically very low and the shares will almost certainly be re-rated when the oil price eventually gets moving again.

The company expects to post further growth this year and the company's backlog has increased the certainty of earnings all the way out 2011.

PFC putting in another strong performance today on the back of yet another juicy contract landed ...... next challenge is 200 dma at 500 exactly, so almost a double hurdle ...... fingers crossed

Solid outfit in a liquid sector, what more can we ask?

sp has gone ballistic again this morning ..... straight through 200 dma with nary a pause for breath .... looks like pretty heavy volume too, but will need to check that out latr

Recent contract wins have really got them going, starting with the 2.3bn Abu Dhabi contract in January, then this weeks $2.2bn contract in Algeria. Now today we have very strong results from AMEC which should underline the value in this sector.

perhaps the AMEC results are having a knock-on effect .... who knows?
possible, though unlikely, is that someone is stake building

Check out the latest research document from Hanson westhouse on on Oil/Gas services companies, its a very interesting update.

See below

www.oilbarrel.com/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Brokers_Notes_Mar09/Oil_Services_Sector_review_02-03-09.pdf

a clue! ..... Petrofac upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS and buy from add at RBS.

..So they agree with us then -):

they've been following the thread

i'll try not to get overexcited about this company, though i have been a fan for a long time ...... current chart is very encouraging and will be the more so if the recent fhigh of 680 can be broken with impetus

in any case, as i have posted elsewhere, the oil service industry is coming back to life pretty quickly on the back of the improving crude price (watch LAM too, not least as a t/o target)

Business Financial Newswire
"Oil & gas services provider Petrofac has been awarded a $2.1bn integrated gas development contract in Abu Dhabi.

It's 50%-owned joint venture, Petrofac Emirates, in partnership with GS E&C, has received a letter of award from GASCO for a contract with a value to Petrofac of around $1bn.

The 48-month lump-sum contract, which is due to start in August, is for the construction of the 4th NGL train at the Ruwais complex in Abu Dhabi.

This is the first project to be awarded to Petrofac Emirates, a JV with Mubadala Petroleum Services established in November last year."

particularly heavy traffic in PFC today as well as an exceptionally strong sp .... probably something of nothing, but worth noting though no rns

aha! .....

Oil sector services group Petrofac was the biggest FTSE100 gainer at high noon, up 74p at 824.5p, benefiting from an ugrade to buy at UBS with a 1,000p target price.

just for the moment - i guess because i am an active trader - i have just locked in a very respectable profit.

however, if we have a couple of bad days, the odds for which must surely be quite short, i am quite sure i shall buy back in

stunning results this morning, with sharp correction due to selling on the news ..... wasn't quite quick enough, but bought a slab at 895.5 which is already in the money ...... now have a look at LAM, which has also suddenly perked up

sold LAM friday at 122 after a couple of months of the 108 - 120 yoyo !! as you say better to take any profit than a loss.

LAM is a long term (for me!) holding as i have a lot of faith in that company, or more precisely in the general resurgence of oilfield service companies.

that said, i believe Wellstream (WSM) issued a profit warning the other day and of course go hammered

rf .... from your AFR post ..... not sure who is big enough and/or would want to swallow PFC

Business Financial Newswire
"Oil and gas services group Petrofac raised its interim dividend 43% after reporting first-half net profit up 20% to $145.6m from $121.2m.

Revenue for the six months to June 30 rose 1% to $1.586bn from $1.576bn. Net margin rose to 9.2% from 7.7%.

The company said its first-half order intake was $5.8bn against $1.7bn in 2008, with its backlog more than doubling to $8.4bn at June 30 against $4bn at the end of December.

CEO Ayman Asfari said, 'Notwithstanding the significantly lower oil price environment experienced in the first half of the year the group has performed well and, subject to any unforeseen circumstances, we are confident that we will deliver earnings growth for the full year of at least 20%.

'With over $6 billion of new contract awards secured in the year to date the group has record backlog giving outstanding revenue visibility and underpinning the group's confidence that strong growth in earnings will continue well beyond the current year.'

EBITDA rose 16% to $207.5m from $179.2. Gross cash balances were $900.2m, up from the end December figure of $694.4m.

Diluted earnings per share rose 22% to 42.7c from 35.13c. Interim dividend was raised to 10.7c from 7.5c. Ex-divi date 23/09/09, paid 23/10/09"