News in brief: Order book rise lifts AMEC shares, Plane rivals take off with new contracts, London float on the cards for EE

P87 Airbus

4 April 2013

Shares in AMEC jumped by more than 2% after the engineering group revealed a slight increase in its order book, despite the tough market conditions.

In a trading update, AMEC said its order book stood at £3.7 billion, compared to £3.6 billion at the end of 2012, on the back of strong demand from customers in the oil and gas industry. The shares rose by 25p, or 2.3%, to 1104.0p.

Plane rivals take off with new contracts

European jet-maker Airbus today said it delivered 144 planes to airlines in the first three months of the year, 10% more than the same time in 2012.

That included the 100th delivery of Airbus’ flagship A380, to Malaysia Airlines. Rival Boeing was also celebrating after it received a $4 billion (£2.65 billion) order for 18 of its Dreamliners International Airlines Group.

London float on the cards for EE

The prospect of a £10 billion London stock market float for EE, Britain’s biggest mobile phone company, has moved a step closer as key shareholder France Telecom has appointed US bank Morgan Stanley as lead adviser.

France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom jointly own EE, parent company of T-Mobile and Orange. Deutsche is expected to appoint its own bank advisers.