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.

Increasing volume and heading back up.

chart is starting look quite interesting too i think

A break of 3 looks like it would herald a quick run up to 3.50. Failure to break 3 looks like an easy short to 260p.

Nice spot. On my watch list.

GME - same sector as PFC also worth a look for Monday.

Results today saw revs up from 4.76m to 11.2m! Gross profit 3.3m, loss (2m). Shares rose 15% but dropped back abit on quiet Friday.

Why?
1. Instis hold 60% since Jan (bought at 15p & 17p)- recent big buys near current 18p price :-)
2. Order book over 24m (11m in Nov 2005)
3. Net cash 4m (The Independent - July)
4. Delivery rate of 1.5m per month.
5. Analysts dead-on with forecast to Mch 2006, plus expect profit for 2007 on revs of 24m. They expect bigger orders soon.

Petrofac confident as profits double
MoneyAM
Petrofac gave an upbeat view of the future after it delivered a near doubling of profits in the first half.

The oil and gas facilities service provider reported pretax profit in the half year to June rose 98% to $74.48m from $37.68m last time, ahead of the consensus figure of $58.6m.

EBITDA grew 63% to $88.8m, while revenue increased 34% to $927m, mainly reflecting increased orders and margins at the group's key Engineering & Construction business.

The group has an order intake of $1bn, with a backlog of $3.3bn at end-June.

Looking ahead, Ayman Asfari, the CEO, said market conditions are likely to remain strong in the coming months.

'We believe the group is well positioned to benefit from our clients' increased demand for services and to deliver another year of strong growth,' he said.

He added the Operations Services division is 'well placed to deliver full-year performance in line with out expectations' following the investments it made in the past months.

Petrofac has raised staff numbers to 8,000 currently from 5,000 a year ago as demand for its services soars, particularly in the Middle East and India.

It is paying dividends of 2.40 cents per share in the first half, as against a pre-listing pay-out of 3.01 cents a year earlier.

Interesting outfit with results to match there cynic.

indeed ..... bought some today after the results .... as so often, should have taken my own advice earlier, but reckon i'll lock these away for a good while.

I will now follow their progress, popular Industry, well spotted.

thanks Stan .... my opening comment when i started this thread says it all

while oil stocks are tending southwards at the moment, especially the small E&P companies, this related service provider continues to do its biz, and very well and successfully too .... i am very pleased to be invested here, and i reckon you chaps could do worse than to follow suit

Most too busy chasing rainbows (and often racking up big losses) when decent companies are actually doing rather well. Very happy with PFC - not cheap but looks like it will pay its way. My other play in the sector is MTI - another long term hold in my PEP

i know i must come across as a ramper (or even a wanker!), but i am amazed that all you "oily addicts" continue to neglect this purveyor of services etc, equivalent to Mr Levi during the goldrush.

so yet again, i humbly (cynic humble???) draw the company to your attention.

Cynic, I agree that the oil services companies are a great and safer way to play the oil industry boom. I have PFC, HTG,SDX,GME,KBC,HMY, HMS,and ABG. PFC isn't particularly cheap but has good growth prospects imo. My view is that most of these companies will still be growing or be taken over at a premium after many of the exploration companies have gone bust, and replaced by new ones. One thing is certain imo, the world's thirst for new energy sources will continue unabated.DYOR

What a pity you hav'nt got WG. Wood Group, canary9. Been aproached for take over is the rumour . edit/ which probably accounts for today rise.

you're right Toby, Wood Group is another good quality company, but I am far from convinced that the rumour has much substabce behind it ..... i read it, and it looks very wishy-washy to me

I looked at WG. a couple of years ago when they were much cheaper, but bought Hunting instead at 1.33 as they were on a very low P/S, so I won't worry about it! Even now the P/S is only 0.4, which for a company growing revenues is too low imo.

curious, though possibly something of nothing ..... sp has been particularly lively this afternoon ...... currently +17 after +32 ...... keep watching, though no news at time of writing.

Sector possibly a bit frothy on rumours about WG. Also hold EXR and they have shown similar pattern recently to PFC.Both imo look solid holds, EXR a bit more speculative because of recent large acquisition.

Excellent news today from a quality company.

Yes, sound and diverse oil service business with upside from exploration and production!

time to add a chart



Green line = 200 dma
Red line = 50 dma

Excellent steady upward progress ...... often beats the frothy rockets like GOO and CHP, both of which I also hold, but more moderately