Top five performing Scottish stocks last week

Eland Oil & Gas enjoyed the biggest gain among Scottish stocks last week. Picture: TSPL

Last week's best performing Scottish shares on the stock market.

Eland Oil & Gas +20.8%

The Aberdeen-based oil and gas firm, which focuses its efforts on Nigeria, said it enjoyed a “successful” first half, with gross production from the Opuama field in its OML 40 licence averaging 4,140 barrels a day. The Aim-quoted company ended the six-month period to 30 June with a cash balance of $20.6 million (£16.6m), bolstered by a £12.4m placing in April 2016, and predicted that production and revenues will reach a record high once operations at Shell’s Forcados terminal in Nigeria resume.

Shares closed at 36.13p on Friday 30 September and at 43.63p on Friday 7 October

Braveheart Investment Group +12.7%

The business angel investment group has completed the sale of its 1.25 per cent stake – along with a 3.75 per cent interest held by Strathclyde Investment Fund – in Glasgow-based mLED, a University of Strathclyde spin-out that specialises in tiny light-emitting diodes. The deal will see the Perth-based investor receive a net cash payment of £367,000, which it will use to boost its cash reserves and working capital and invest in “suitable opportunities in accordance with the group’s investment strategy.”

Shares closed at 13.75p on Friday 30 September and at 15.5p on Friday 7 October

John Menzies +5.7%

The venerable logistics group, chaired by Irish industrialist Dermot Smurfit, last month struck a “transformational” $202m deal to buy a US aviation services that employs thousands of people. The Edinburgh-based baggage handler and newspaper distributor said the acquisition of ASIG from BBA Aviation would add plane fuelling to its aviation arm’s range of services and double the size of its operations in North America.

Shares closed at 583p on Friday 30 September and at 616.5p on Friday 7 October

Cairn Energy +5.5%

The Edinburgh-based oil and gas explorer, recently reported a narrower loss of $38m for the six months to the end of June – down from $230m a year earlier, when its bottom line was hit by a $168m writedown on the value of its 10 per cent stake in former subsidiary Cairn India Limited (CIL), which it cannot sell amid an ongoing dispute with the Indian tax authorities.

Shares closed at 188p on Friday 30 September and at 198.3p on Friday 7 October

Aberdeen Asset Management +4.3%

Simon Troughton, previously a partner at Cazenove, has succeeded Roger Cornick as chairman of the Aberdeen-based fund manager, co-founded by chief executive Martin Gilbert. Troughton said: “I’m delighted to be taking on the role at an important moment for the business and for the fund management sector as a whole; Roger deserves credit for his governance of the company that I now have the privilege of chairing.”

Shares closed at 326.3p on Friday 30 September and at 340.4p on Friday 7 October

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