It is not entirely clear why shares in Aveva, the maker of software for big engineering projects, should have taken such a tumble yesterday. The outlook, as expressed in the full-year figures, is not much different from the trading update just a month ago. The question is when, or if, the oil and gas work which provides 40 to 45 per cent of revenues will eventually come back.
There are signs of some recovery, as the big oil companies begin to adjust to a price of $50 a barrel or more and turn on the capital spending taps again. Any new projects should eventually feed through into work for Aveva. There is, however, no sign of any recovery in the important Brazil market, and