Shares in AssetCo rose by more than 12 per cent after the emergency support services group signed a ten-year deal with the Abu Dhabi Government to develop and manage a 100-acre disaster training site.

The facility, Rabdan Disaster City, will be used to train personnel from the emergency services and private sector organisations in the emirates and the wider Gulf region.

Development will start early next year but analysts do not expect the deal to generate any profit until 2012, when the facility is scheduled to open.

Arden Partners said that the contract was a significant milestone in AssetCo’s development, which had been won after almost 18 months of investment in the region. It added that the deal was in line with AssetCo’s strategy of targeting high-cost elements of the emergency service budget and that it reduced its dependency on the UK. The shares rose 8p to 71p.

D1 Oils fell 0.05p to 5¾p after the biofuels group said that it expected to get only £1 million from a settlement of a dispute with an unnamed American company rather than the £4.2 million it had estimated previously after what it described as a complex legal background and the financial condition of the debtor.

SkyePharma rose 18¾p to 103p after the pharmaceuticals group said that Flutiform, its asthma drug, had met its main goals in a late-stage trial. The results mean that it will be able to apply for European regulatory approval in the first quarter of next year, as planned.

Sanderson rose 6p to 21½p after the software and IT services group said that full-year results would be slightly ahead of market expectations after a strong finish to the year. Charles Stanley upgraded its rating to “buy”.

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