Wood Group seen as attractive after £126m family stake sale
ANALYSTS picked energy services firm Wood Group as a buying opportunity yesterday after its shares fell following a family stake sale.
The Wood family trust and members of the Wood family sold just over 16m shares – representing their entire 4.4 per cent stake in the firm – through Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Cazenove.
The sale of the stake at 775p per share raised around £126m in total, and saw the shares drop 4.3 per cent yesterday to 780p, making it the biggest faller on the FTSE 100.
However, Sir Ian Wood, who retired as chairman last month, said he had no current plans to sell any of his 2.4 per cent stake.
And analysts said the share price drop made the stock attractive.
Oriel Securities highlighted its strong international position in offshore facilities and said this meant Wood Group was in a good position to take advantage of increased industry spending.
“This is a good opportunity to buy into a high quality company,” it added.
Meanwhile, Liberum advised investors not to read anything into the share sale, noting the family historically had shown little interest in the firm.