AFTER a year in which its shares have almost tripled, Petrofac dropped on profit-taking yesterday, despite reassuring the market of its strong growth.
The oil services group said while clients were increasingly retendering contracts to cut costs,
it expected 2009 earnings to rise by at least 20 per cent.
Evolution Securities increased its target price on the shares by 50p to 1,100p, but Petrofac dropped 33p to 1,030p, after hitting an all-time high on Wednesday.
Across the London Stock Exchange, profit-taking and weaker than expected growth in China dragged the leading FTSE-100 index down, closing 50.5 points lower at 5207.4.
Mining firms were under early pressure as the US dollar rose, although most pulled back from earlier session lows.
Lonmin closed down 9p at 1,682p after news of a 20 per cent decline in fourth-quarter production.
Gold miner Randgold Resources meanwhile shed 174p to 4,391p.
British Airways was among the bigger fallers, down more than 4 per cent, or 9p, to 209.5p, after disappointing results from US airline Continental in the previous session.
Cruise ship giant Carnival was the biggest blue chip faller, closing off 92p at 2061p.
Cadbury, the confectionery giant which reported impressive third-quarter growth on Wednesday, dropped 10.5p to 789p, on reports that one of its top ten shareholders would be prepared to consider a Kraft bid at 820p.
While this would still represent a premium, it is less than what most analysts believed would be required.
Lloyds Banking Group topped the FTSE-100 gainers on a day when most banking shares were down, on expectations of an announcement on its rights issue plans is close. Shares rose 3.3p to 94.8p. Its rivals fell, as analysts downgraded US bank Wells Fargo. Royal Bank of Scotland fell 0.32p to 45.51p, Barclays eased 6p to 359p and HSBC was 12.9p lower at 690.1p.
Telecoms were among the gainers for a second straight session, with BT up 2.1p to 139.7p and Vodafone rising 4.6p to 139.5p, while rival Cable & Wireless was flat at 143.6p.
Cairn Energy, Scotland's largest oil explorer, was also among the risers, having dropped below £30 a share in recent days. Shares rose 8p to 2,899p, despite crude prices easing slightly.
Tullow, Britain's largest explorer, rose 10p to 1,264p, on reports that BP might enter the bidding for a stake in the Jubilee field off Ghana's coast. Tullow's partner in the field, Kosmos, is selling the stake but a strong auction could push up London-based Tullow's implied value.
Among the midcap FTSE-250, pub groups surged after the Office of Fair Trading threw out a complaint claiming that deals which lock lessees into exclusive beer contracts were harming competition.
Enterprise Inns shares rose 23 per cent, or 27.9p, to 147p, while rival Punch Taverns rose 12.5p, or 15 per cent, to 97.25p.
Troubled transport company National Express slumped again after warning its results were likely to be lower than market expectations. The group is pressing on with a rights issue plan, however, and has not ruled out a merger with Stagecoach. Shares in National Express fell 18.5p to 397p. Stagecoach climbed 2.9p to 162.4p as its position appeared to strengthen.
On the Aim, Omega Diagnostics, the Scottish medical testing company, dropped 4.5 per cent to 31.5p, after announcing after trading closed on Wednesday night that it was no longer in takeover talks.
