Index rallies throughout the day

Mar 19 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

AFTER a turbulent night on Wall Street which finally saw the Dow Jones end 21 points higher, the FTSE 100 Index opened in positive territory yesterday.

The index continued to rally throughout the day on hopes that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by up to 1% and ended the day 191 points higher at 5605.

Among those stocks leading the charge within the regional portfolio was Chieftain Group, where we act as broker. Specialising in the marine, petrochemical, power, oil and gas sectors, Chieftain provides outsourced industrial and engineering services to clients. The company’s three main divisions are engineering, marine outfitting and environmental services.

Chieftain’s share price was 3% higher during the day on the announcement of better-than-expected final results. Full-year pre-tax profits were up by 40% at £2.1m after strong trading conditions at its core engineering business, which was a major contributor to group profits.

Chieftain additionally announced a total dividend of 7p per share representing a 40% increase on the previous year as well as a record year-end order book of £69m. Despite the positive news, Chieftain shares closed 1.5p lower at 184p.

Elsewhere in the regional portfolio, Premier Direct, the discount retailer, announced the appointment of Keith Milton as commercial director. Mr Milton was previously finance director at Pride Valley Foods.

The strongest performance of the day came from Barratt Developments whose shares closed 5.2% higher at 383p.

Fiona Erdozain FionaE@brewin.co.uk