Swiber rises on contract win

Shares of Swiber Holdings jumped as much as 6% after the offshore services firm won a US$273 million ($343 million) contract in the Gulf of Mexico.

Swiber was up 4.5% at $0.70, with 18 million shares traded in the first 25 minutes of trade. It was among the top five traded stocks by value. Volume was 2.5 times the average daily volume traded over the last five sessions.

“The Gulf of Mexico is new turf for Swiber, which has been focusing on Asian waters. This contract has raised Swiber's market position in the offshore construction industry,” CIMB said in a report and maintained its outperform rating with a target price of $0.79.

Swiber's order book has risen to US$1.3 billion ($1.64 billion) with the latest contract, and CIMB said it expects the company to secure more smaller contracts in Asia over the next six months.

Swiber said the contract, awarded by an oil major from the Gulf of Mexico, involves offshore construction works for the procurement, transportation and installation of pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico.