Sector movers: Lamprell update boosts oil services

Lamprell is leading the oil services sector higher after it announced the proposed acquisition of United Arab Emirates-based firm Maritime Industrial Services (MIS) for a total consideration of $336.1m (£208.1m). MIS is an engineering and contracting group focused on the energy sector, which recorded a pre-tax profit of $37.1m in 2010. As at 31 March, the firm had gross assets of $351.6m. "There is a strong complementary fit between Lamprell and MIS, enabling the enlarged group to pursue new opportunities with enhanced resource and technical competence. In particular, we see real competitive advantage in the companies' combined engineering offering as well as greater access to new business in the downstream and onshore sectors," said chief executive officer Nigel McCue. The software sector is lower, although updates have been given a mixed reception.Mobile and online banking software specialist Parseq soared on Thursday after it landed a major contract with a mystery client. The company, formed last year by the reverse takeover of Intelligent Environments by Documetric, said the multi-million pound contract is for a three year duration. But investors in OMG may have been uttering the company's name as an exclamation after the imaging software group said revenues in the half year to 31 May were hit by a project delay.The company, which has been involved in films such as The Chronicles of Narnia and Gulliver's Travel's, posted an adjusted pre-tax loss of £0.3m for the period, against a profit of £1.4m over the same period the previous year. Revenues fell to £13.3m from £14.4m.Top performing sectors so far todayOil Equipment, Services & Distribution 25,782.27 +2.51%Industrial Metals & Mining 7,758.50 +1.92%General Industrials 3,259.70 +1.89%Aerospace and Defence 3,471.53 +1.55%Chemicals 7,476.77 +1.50%Bottom performing sectors so far todayMining 25,111.95 -0.46%Software & Computer Services 746.70 -0.31%Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,240.00 -0.29%Industrial Transportation 2,584.42 -0.10%Alternative Energy null 0.00% Oxford Metrics