Amec鈥檚 bullish run, during which its share price climbed from 400p in January to a year high of 849.5p earlier this month, has lost some of its steam in recent days.

Last week Citigroup cut its rating on Amec from 鈥渂uy鈥� to 鈥渉old鈥�, which means the board will buy back fewer shares than forecast.

This week鈥檚 disposal of the project investments business, the management team and eight PFI assets to Land Securities Trillium in a cash deal valued at 拢152.4m did little to allay City concerns and its shares slid to 742p by Wednesday.

Speculation is rife that Richard Caborn, the former trade minister and sports minister, has been approached about a non-executive role at the firm. Amec is of course part of a consortium bidding for the 拢5bn contract to help to decontaminate Sellafield in Cumbria. Having a politician on the team, one with an inside knowledge of the DTI, wouldn鈥檛 do any harm to Amec鈥檚 chances.

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