As the price of oil rises, companies’ efforts to find and drill the black gold will also increase.

All this is good news for Lamprell, the United Arab Emirates-based engineering group, which signed its largest deal to date yesterday. The company will build two new rigs for BassDrill in a contract worth $205 million (£104 million). The announcement follows a $186 million new build contract a few weeks ago. That means that $390 million of contracts have been signed in a month, providing investors with the improved earnings visibility they had been waiting for.

Lamprell’s shares rose 25½p to 560p. However there was less comfort for Styles & Wood, the shop planner and refitter, which said that it had experienced significant project deferrals and margin pressure over the past month as its customers battled through the tough retail environment. The company gave warning that second-half revenue would not exceed that of the first, now expected at about £120 million to £150 million, sending shares down 5¾p to to 10¼p.

Shares in Johnston Press, the local newspaper group, fell 3p to 69p after 97 per cent of its shareholders backed its £170 million rights issue.

Craneware, the US healthcare software provider, ticked up 10p to 205½p after agreeing a contract with Catholic Health East to provide 16 acute-care hospitals with its software.

Pure Wafer’s shares collapsed, down 26p to 5½p after it said that first-half sales were down and that it expected to break its banking covenants.

Finance Ireland rose 1¼p to 3p after its shareholders approved the delisting of its shares.

Private & Commercial Finance Group rose 4½p to 23p after posting a 138 per cent increase in annual pretax profit.

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