Investors dump oil firm over fraud probe fears
Investors feared oil services firm John Wood Group might get cold feet over its upcoming merger with Amec
Foster Wheeler after the latter became the subject of a corruption and bribery probe.
In its response to the discovery that the serious Fraud office has launched an investigation into Amec, John Wood failed to mention its £2.2bn slated takeover of the embattled firm, which is due to complete later this year.
‘It is not possible to estimate reliably what effect the outcome of this matter may have on Amec Foster Wheeler,’ said John Wood in a statement.
Despite Amec previously claiming the investigation ‘ is not expected’ to have an effect on the merger, John Wood’s cold tone sent both firms towards the bottom of the Ftse 350.
John Wood fell 3.5pc, or 22p, to 601p – a three-month low – while Amec dropped 5.5pc, or 25p, to 430p, close to all-time lows.
the sFo has launched an inves- tigation into Amec over past third- party ties to Unaoil, a Monaco-based engineering and construction group suspected of fraud, bribery, and money laundering. An internal probe into Wood Group found a joint venture made payments to Unaoil, but it found no evidence of corruption.
A mattress maker which listed just two months ago revealed a mass roll-out at high-street staple next’s home stores yesterday.
Eve Sleep, which is more than 20pc backed by star fund manager neil Woodford, revealed its products would be in 55 stores by the end of the month after a successful trial at three sites.
Combined with its presence in selected Debenhams and Bentalls sites, the company’s products will now be stocked in 63 stores across the UK.
In an update for the first half of the year, eve said revenue for the period rose by 126pc to £11.5m.
Broker Peel Hunt, which currently has a ‘ buy’ rating and a 135p price target on the firm, said its results were even better than it had expected. shares rose 0.5pc, or 0.5p, to 95p.
the FTSE 100 had a very strong day, hitting its highest level since April after oil and gas stocks were lifted by strong commodity prices. the index rose 1.19pc, or 87.17 points, to 7416.93. Private healthcare firm Medi
clinic International was one of the biggest gainers, rising 4.7pc, or 33.5p, to 742.5p, as rumours of a takeover swirled among traders.
the decline of Pearson continued as punters questioned whether the education giant was right to sell a 22pc stake in Penguin random House for £778m.
Brokers certainly didn’t think so, with Pearson being cut by ana- lysts at Jefferies, Credit suisse, Panmure Gordon and Investec. shares fell 4.7pc, or 31p, to 624p – a two-month low.
In the mid-cap index, silver and gold producer Hochschild Mining had a strong day after a jump in production over the second quarter. the three months saw the firm produce 4.8m ounces of silver, up from 4.1m in the first quarter, and 60.8m ounces of gold, up from 60.6m. Analysts at rBC said the firm is now well positioned to increase its full-year production guidance for 2017.
It gave the firm an ‘outperform’ rating and a target price of 290p.
the company’s shares rose by 4pc, or 10.4p, to 267.7p.
shares in Upper Crust and ritazza owner SSP Group defied mixed reviews from analysts to advance 0.6pc, or 3p, to 486.8p.
the firm, which operates food and drink chains in locations such as airports and train stations, saw like-for-like sales growth of 3.6pc in the three months to June, driven by increased passenger numbers at airports.