MARKET REPORT: Petrofac enjoys rare day in the sun after Ayman Asfari regains his confidence

It has been a tough 10 months for Petrofac chief Ayman Asfari but today he rewarded the board and investors for their loyalty by snapping up £10 million of shares in the firm.

Billionaire Asfari, who has been chased by both the Serious Fraud Office and Italian authorities in the past year, increased his stake from 18% to 19%, giving the oilfield giant’s share price a much-needed boost.

Syrian-born Asfari only resumed full chief executive duties this month after his role was restricted in the wake of an ongoing investigation launched in May last year by the SFO into Petrofac over suspected bribery, corruption and money laundering. The SFO’s investigation is focused on the company’s dealings with Unaoil, a Monaco-based consultancy that is accused of paying bribes to secure work for clients.

In January, Asfari — who is never far from controversy — was cleared by UK courts in his battle against Italian authorities who accused him of insider trading. But analysts thought Asfari’s and Petrofac’s luck could be changing: shares rose 9.2p to 515.4p.

But it wasn’t all good news in the oil sector after small-cap oil rigger Lamprell said it expected lower revenue this year and posted a loss for last year — hurt by lower spending and losses at a windfarm. Shares fell 4.4p to 66p.

Oil major BP was also down — off 2.5p at 470.11p — as the FTSE 100 trod water, down 34.64 points at 7004.33 points.

Commodity giant Rio Tinto followed the index south after Swiss prosecutors confirmed they were investigating whether the miner paid bribes linked to the landmark Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in the Gobi Desert back in 2009.

Separately, it agreed the sale of Winchester South to Whitehaven for $200 million (£141 million).

Among the small-caps, Sabre released its first set of results since its stock market listing in December.

The insurer said gross written premiums rose to £211 million from £197 million the year before, and underwriting profit rose to £59 million from £55.9 million. However, it wasn’t enough to impress the City and shares lost 36p to 241p.

Elsewhere on AIM, listed Quixant — a provider of computing platforms and monitors for gaming and slot machine applications — increased its revenue by 21% to $109.2 million.

The group made a profit of $17.7 million, up 28%, and shares gained 32.4p to 411.4p.

Finally, Secure Trust Bank reported a rise in full-year profit after the group successfully moved away from the high-risk consumer credit market. The challenger bank posted a 28.9% increase in pre-tax profits to £25 million in the year.

Secure Trust has moved away from unsecured consumer lending and sub-prime motor lending. Shares gained 62.5p to 1720p.