Oil and gas services company Petrofac maintained its full-year profit outlook as its core engineering and construction division continued its strong performance.
Shares in the FTSE 100 company were boosted by more than 7% on Friday on the London Stock Exchange to become one of the top percentage gainers on the index.
Analysts dubbed the update as “reassuring” after the firm had issued a profit warning in May.
Group backlog was £13.2 billion as on September 30, compared with £12.6billion at the end of June, the company said in a statement.
“With activity levels stepping up over the second half of the year, in line with our expectations, we remain on track to deliver net profit in the range $580million (£360.5million) to $600 million (£373million) for the full year 2014,” Chief Executive Ayman Asfari said.
Petrofac said its pipeline of bidding opportunities at its engineering and construction business, which accounts for nearly 60% of total revenue, remained strong, with customers investing heavily across its core geographies.
The company, which builds and maintains oil and gas facilities, had earlier said its results would be heavily weighted toward the second half of the year.
Petrofac has struggled with operational issues and delays at key projects in the first half of 2014, with profit for the period nearly halving.
The company said its operations in Iraq continued to be insulated from the unrest in the region. Iraq accounts for less than 5% of its annual revenue.
Petrofac’s shares have fallen nearly 18% since May when it cut its full-year profit forecast by 11%.