Questor share tip: Lamprell a hold despite 'kitchen sinking' Lamprell warned that this year's losses will be seven times greater than previously expected at $105m (£84.5m). This includes bad debt of $8.1m, increased advisory fees because of the company's woes of $4m and additional losses in construction of windfarm installation vessels for Norwegian group Fred Olsen. Lamprell is based in the United Arab Emirates where it upgrades and refurbishes offshore jack-up drilling rigs and related kit used in the oil and gas sector. There were problems with suppliers, cost overruns and deferrals of projects. It was all very embarrassing and the management has now been purged. Lamprell says that measures are being implemented to improve controls on projects and manage risk. The group is in talks with lenders over waiving banking covenants and it remains confident of their support. However, Lamprell also still has an order book worth $1.4bn and its "bidding pipeline remains highly active." The shares are down by 70pc in the year to date and a number of brokers upgraded their rating on the shares to buy after the latest warning. They are banking on hopes that all the bad news had been "kitchen sinked" and released into the market. Investors looking for a punt may wish to speculatively buy some of the shares and wait for a recovery. However, Questor thinks the road back to credibility may be long and challenging. Therefore Questor keeps a hold rating.