Shares in Scott Wilson rose more than 5 per cent after the engineering consultant said that work on everything from the design of the A421 from Bedford to the M1, to the Grand Mosque in Bahrain, gave it confidence of meeting market expectations.

The company said that demand remained strong at home and abroad and its order book was healthy. The group has recently won nuclear sector commissions in Britain and power-related projects in Pakistan. Moreover, it said that since the end of the year it has extended its banking facilities to £70 million to support its acquisition strategy. The shares rose 10¼p to 200½p.

Gaming VC slumped 26p to 166½p after the European online gaming company said that a party that had made a preliminary offer approach in April has said now that it does not wish to proceed at present. The group reassured investors that it continues to trade in line with expectations.

Gamingking, the lottery ticket and vending machine supplier, soared 0.225p to 1.15p after it returned from suspension and revealed plans of a reverse takeover by Orb Holdings, the amusement machine operator. The enlarged group will be renamed Sceptre Leisure.

Serica Energy fell 3p to 66¼p despite announcing a farm-out deal with RWE, under which the German utility will earn a 50 per cent interest in Serica’s licences off the shore of western Ireland by paying a share of the costs of an exploration well planned for 2009. The licences contain four sizeable gas prospects, thought to have potential in excess of one trillion cubic feet of gas, and are close to Shell’s Corrib gasfield. Ireland imports most of its gas and any sizeable discovery could be of huge importance to its energy supplies.

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