Weir weathers cloudy US outlook

Published on Monday 5 January 2009 20:20

SCOTS STOCKS

WEIR Group, the Glasgow engineering services company heavily exposed to the oil and gas sector, rose 3.3 per cent despite analysts at Daniel Stewart highlighting a sharp fall in the number of oil rigs active in the US last month.

Analysts predicted the fall would have a significant impact on SPM, the US well service outfit Weir acquired in June 2007, which is expected to contribute a third of its profits this year. However, shares in Weir climbed 12p to 373.25p.

Crude oil prices continued to recover, pushing up the sector. Aberdeen-based Venture briefly rose sharply on hopes it would benefit from a gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but eased as EU officials said supplies were safe. Venture closed up 7.25p at 467.75p, while Dana Petroleum rose 53p to 1,107p and Melrose Resources climbed 4.9 per cent to 214p. Faroe Petroleum, which lost more than two-thirds of its value in 2008, also headed north, gaining 10.4 per cent to 55.75p.

Aberdeen Asset Management gave up some of the gains it made after its acquisition of the fund management business of Credit Suisse last week. Not everyone has been impressed, with analysts at Evolution warning that buying under-performing businesses is not a guaranteed route to success. AAM fell 2.6 per cent to 122.75p.

ProStrakan closed unchanged on 88.25p despite both Nomura Code and Teathers naming the Borders pharmaceutical company as one of their top picks for 2009.