Companies: MTG   

Metnor took the market by surprise by revealing a £45m forward order book at mechanical and electrical contracting division Norstead. The company expects to book around 95% of this during the current year. Back in April, Metnor heralded 2001's 25% surge in revenue to £48.9m as 'unprecedented', with finance director Keith Atkinson hinting that a subsequent slump in the telecoms market was likely to make 2002 'a long, hard slog'. It now seems that Metnor is well on the way to beating last year's revenue total, and there are still seven months of the year remaining. Neil Baldwin of house broker Brewin Dolphin shed some light on the subject, saying Metnor has managed to offset the slump in demand from telecoms firms by winning 'a number of contracts in recent weeks - some large, some small'. Despite the good news, Baldwin's colleague at Brewin Dolphin, analyst Graeme Summers, is sticking with his previous forecast of a £400,000 drop in pre-tax profits to £5.4m. With the shares trading off a forward p/e of ten, they look good value.