SHARES in the nation's mining services contractors were hit again yesterday on the back of UGL's profit downgrade and stock price plunge, which prompted analysts to cut earnings and price targets for the engineering company.
UGL slipped another 4.8 per cent to $7.56 yesterday -- on top of its 17 per cent tumble on Tuesday -- taking shares in the engineering and property services company to lows not seen since 2009.
The bearish mood, coming after BHP and Rio Tinto alerted the market to further cuts in expenditure, maintained its drag on the contractor space yesterday, prompting Transfield Services to plunge 6.8 per cent and Macmahon Holdings by 4.4 per cent. Ausdrill also slumped by 11.5 per cent and Downer EDI fell 3.5 per cent.
The falls came a day after UGL slashed its full-year earnings guidance by almost 40 per cent to $90 million-$100m, after its engineering business was hit by a string of cancelled or delayed mining projects and capital investment slowdown as well as underperformance issues with five of its power projects.
