Shares in Britain's AMEC fell on Thursday after the engineer reported swelling debt and said security risks in Iraq were clouding profit predictions.
By 0915 GMT AMEC stock was down nearly seven percent to 285 pence, valuing the company, which made its statement after the market close on Wednesday, at around 860 million pounds ($1.5 billion).
"Overall the news from AMEC is neutral but the expected higher level of debt and the sluggish recovery of US markets is disappointing," said Stephen Rawlinson at stockbroker Arbuthnot Securities.
AMEC said although overall prospects in the North American industrial sector were encouraging, some of its businesses in the region like power, food and cement had not yet seen an increase in order levels.
The company said it stood by its expectations of making further progress in 2004, but gave no specific details.
Separately, it said its average weekly net debt for the three months ended March 31 was up 70 million pounds from the same period last year at 360 million pounds, largely due to the cost of acquisitions and increased capital expenditure on some oil and gas projects.
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