The Lamprell Group has played an important role in the development of the offshore industry in the Arabian Gulf for over 30 years, providing increasingly specialised services to the offshore oil industry. Lamprell is managed by British nationals, with its corporate headquarters in Sharjah, one of the United Arab Emirates, Lamprell operates a full service jackup rig refurbishment facility in Sharjah and a modern, well equipped fabrication facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai.

Lamprell located in the most important oil and gas region in the world, in one of the key commercial centres in the UAE.

Lamprell has its own core skilled and experienced workforce as well as access to additional skilled labour from the local labour supply market.


AIM Rule 26 Disclosure

This, in addition to the Group�s safety focused culture and experienced project management skills, helps to ensure customer satisfaction is maximised whilst risks are reduced.

Lamprell has built up its strong market position by offering a differentiated service to its clients based on safe working practices and completing projects on time, on budget and to a high quality. Accordingly, we believe that the Company has established a position of sustainable competitive advantage in the region.

Q1 Interim Management Statement this Friday 17th.

Mind the gap - 12 month high @181.25p

Interim Management Statement

The performance in the year to date has been in line with management expectations and, after the events of the previous year, we have made an encouraging start to 2013.

Financial

Overall, the Group's financial position remains stable and working capital continues to be in a healthy position. The Group's immediate priority is to complete its discussions with its key lending banks in order to restructure its debt facilities and agree revised covenants on a long term basis. These discussions are now in an advanced stage and the Company remains on track to complete the process by 30 June 2013. We will update the market in due course.

Operational update

From an operating perspective, Lamprell is focussing on its core competencies and on maintaining high standards of safety and quality. The various major engineering, procurement and construction projects currently under way in each of Lamprell's three large facilities in Hamriyah, Sharjah and Jebel Ali (all in the United Arab Emirates) are progressing according to plan.

Lamprell has a pre-eminent position and well-established track record in rig refurbishment projects in the Middle East. In the year to date, the Company has worked on a total of 11 jackup rigs, two of them in our Hamriyah facility and nine in our Sharjah facility, covering the full range of its repair, upgrade and refurbishment services.

In February 2013, a new contract was awarded to Lamprell by the Jindal group, a key existing customer for the Group, for the construction and delivery of a LeTourneau designed, self-elevating Mobile Offshore Drilling Platform of a Super 116E (Enhanced) Class design. The contract also includes an option for Jindal to order a second jackup rig.

Also in February 2013, Lamprell successfully delivered the wind turbine installation vessel, Windcarrier 2 "Bold Tern" to the client, Fred Olsen.

Our safety statistics for the year to date continue to show improvements on those for 2012. The Group will strive to build on those improvements throughout the rest of 2013 and will provide details at the time of announcement of the 1H financial statements.

Corporate

There have been key changes to the management team with James Moffat joining as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on 1 March 2013 and with Frank Nelson being confirmed as Chief Financial Officer in late March. Mr Moffat and Mr Nelson have both been appointed as executive directors on the Board. Peter Whitbread (the former interim CEO) continues on the Board in an executive role. The Group has also recruited Niall O'Connell as the new VP Projects in order to strengthen the Group's project management structure.

The Board has progressed well with the recent appointments of Michael Press, John Malcolm and Ellis Armstrong as new independent Non-executive Directors effective as from 27 May 2013. As announced previously, Deena Mattar, Colin Goodall and Jonathan Silver have decided to retire from the Board of the Company effective from the end of the upcoming Annual General Meeting.

In late March, the Company confirmed that it had concluded a settlement with the Financial Services Authority ("FSA") in relation to the FSA's investigation into the Company's handling of inside information, as previously announced. The Company made provision for the settlement in the 2012 accounts.

Outlook

The Group maintains a substantial order book extending to Q1 2015 which at the end of April 2013 was US$1.2 billion. The Group's bid pipeline at the end of April was in the order of US$4 billion, which is viewed positively against the backdrop of a robust industry landscape.

In light of the above, the Board believes that the Company is well placed to achieve its primary goal of refocusing on Lamprell's core business and accordingly the Board reiterates its earlier guidance for 2013. In the longer term, this will enable the Group to develop its competitive advantage which historically has been founded on high quality of workmanship and timely execution for those types of projects.


- Ends -

I will be in Abu Dhabi in early november. I might knock on their door and have a quick look round to see if all is well!

I guess no news is good news!

What do you reckon to that gap being filled sometime soon skinny? Might be worth a little dabble as there doesn't seem to be any bad news to spook the stock this time.

I'm cautiously optimistic - I bought in the 130's in Feb.

Nice one! So either way you are in profit. Filling the gap would just be cheshire cat territory!

Hopefully Harry - its been a good period for 'filled gaps' with TCG & CIU both doing just that in past few months.

AGM 27 May 2013 .

StockMarketWire.com
Investec has downgraded its recommendation on Lamprell (LON:LAM) to "sell" from "hold" as the new management team get started with the massive task of turning around the company"s performance. However, analysts at Investec believe that there are less risky recovery stories in the sector. Despite downgrading the stock, the City broker has increased its price target to 145 pence per share (up from 90 pence).
Separately, Liberum Capital downgraded its recommendation on the specialist engineering company to "hold" from "buy" (price target unchanged at 175 pence a share) in a research note for investors today.

Now, about that gap skinny..............? ;o)

What a difference a week can make Harry.

I sold half @164. 150 has been tested and held, so I'll hold the rest for now - although the FTSE is looking a bit ominous atm.

This stock is on the rise today, maybe after all the low has been reached

Patience might pay off after all some were saying, yes if you bought well above yesterday's price

Refinancing of Debt Facilities

Lamprell (ticker: LAM), a leading provider of diversified engineering and contracting services to the onshore and offshore oil & gas and renewable energy industries, is pleased to announce that it has signed binding commitment letters and detailed heads of terms for the arrangement of a new secured banking facility with a reduced number of five core lending banks. This new arrangement significantly simplifies the Company's lending structure and rationalises the covenants to a common basis.

The new US$181 million facility arrangement is comprised of a US$100 million term loan ('Facility A'), a US$60 million term loan ('Facility B') and a US$21 million revolving credit facility ('RCF'). All are scheduled to mature in June 2016 although Facility A amortises over the loan period and Facility B is subject to a one-year optional extension.

The new facility will replace the Group's existing funded facilities and will sit alongside the continuing bilateral unfunded facilities, which are used for the issue of bonds and guarantees. This arrangement is subject to final documentation and to a number of conditions precedent, which are expected to be completed in June or July 2013.

The blended average interest margin for Facility A, Facility B and the RCF is estimated to be 6.7%. Facility B interest costs increase incrementally from July 2014, however, upon repayment of Facility B, the margins in Facility A and the RCF will reduce. The new facility will contain a more suitable covenant package for the business, including gross debt to EBITDA, interest cover, net worth of the Group and annual capital expenditure covenants.

The financial terms for the new facility arrangement have been factored into the Group's forecasts for 2013 and therefore the Board maintains its expectations for the full year.

Liberum Capital Buy 149.00 142.50 175.00 175.00 Upgrades

Which sadly wouldn't close the gap up!!!

Some contract news needed methinks.

> gap up?

I can't see any gap, just share price drop and now bouncing back

See post #436.