Oilfield services group MOS International appears to be enjoying a revival of fortunes under the guidance of experienced chairman Philip Wood. Since his arrival 18 months ago, Wood has overseen a multitude of changes at the company, most pertinently a trio of acquisitions that have added more diversity to the group’s product portfolio. Despite some initial integration problems, things now seem to be progressing well. ‘The last 12 months have been spent rationalising the business and we wanted to get the overheads out of the way this year,’ Wood explains. ‘We now know we’re through the worst and though there are still some things to resolve we’ve always said we’ll deliver in 2006.’ Given these comments it is little surprise that interim losses rose from £10,793 to £979,868. But a raft of additional orders have since been secured, most significantly from Chinese oil giant CNOOC and drilling rig constructor Keppel, and current order books are said to be strong. In recent weeks, MOS has also signed a joint venture agreement with AIM-listed finance business Crown to commission the building of oil rigs – a deal, Wood reasons, ‘could see us pick up 50m of equipment orders.’ Concerns remain (some have voiced particular worries over a £500,000 convertible loan note agreement with Montgomery Equity Partners), yet the shares have definite speculative appeal.