AMEC

At my current rate of progress through the FTSE100 I may just finish by the end of 2009! And by then the constituents would have changed considerably. So maybe I am permanently stuck in a trawl through forgettable FTSE100 companies! Aarrgh!

Anyway, AMEC is a consultancy supplying to the energy industry. So as you would imagine with any company involved in the energy industry it has done rather well in the last couple of years with the share price more than doubling.

The basics: Market cap. of almost £3 billion, the 2008 PE ratio is about 20 and the dividend yield is almost 2%.

AMEC is growing. Brokers forecast EPS growth of 35% in 2008 and 20% in 2009.

The growth rate is impressive but I am not a big fan of consultancies. That is because they are totally subject to the whims of their customers and the movements of their industry. Their differentiator is the quantity and experience of their consultants but human resources are rather dynamic by nature. Therefore this is not the enduring competitive moat that Warren Buffet so prizes.

I feel more inclined to yawn than invest.

Next please.