BUZZ-Petrofac: H1 trading better than feared

** Oilfield services co Petrofac poised for biggest one-day rise since late February & up at 2-mth highs in volume after H1 trading update

** Co says order backlog rises to $20.5 bln

** Incremental losses on Laggan-Tormore project, which is almost complete, have risen by c.£30 mln

** Berenberg analyst Asad Farid flags Petrofac one of few oil services cos whose backlog is still growing which in his view points towards robust earnings recovery over 2016-17

** He also notes scale of losses announced on Laggan are quite low vs those announced in April '15

** Stock, up 8.5%, 2nd-top FTSE 250 riser

** Sheer share price strength catches some off guard; stock called up 1-2% by three brokers in pre-market & down 2-3% by one

** Sector analyst at large European broker points to likely fears of profit warning going into numbers

** Oil & gas majors, hit by oil rout, have slashed capital spending & are holding back on new projects, hurting prospects of services cos

** Petrofac heavily borrowed stock; 11.3% of shares outstanding on loan, according to Markit (NasdaqGS: MRKT - news)

** Peer Hunting 4th top UK midcap riser, up 3.7% at 7-mth high, also in volume, building on 5.6% rise seen Monday (when FT market report flagged takeover speculation as catalyst: http://on.ft.com/1SFKAvj) (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) : tricia.wright1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)