An oil services firm has made a 'positive start to the year' despite seeing its backlog of work slip and remaining under investigation by Britain's fraud squad.

Petrofac, which employs around 160 people in Great Yarmouth, said half-year underlying net profit would come in between $135m (£106m) and $145m (£114m), with full-year profits 'weighted to the second half of the year'.

Its backlog of work was lower at $13bn (£10bn) at the end of May, in contrast to $14.3bn (£11.2bn) at the end of December last year. New orders stood at $1.7bn (£1.3bn) for the year to date.

It comes after the firm's chief operating officer Marwan Chedid was suspended and resigned from the board in May after the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched a probe into the firm's activities under suspicion of bribery, corruption and money laundering in relation to oil contractor Unaoil.