Shares: Taking Stock

Remember Pan Andean Resources, the little oil explorer which crashed more than 100p to 30p in a day? The shares have been firm this week on talk of intriguing developments near its Bolivian field where the oil being sought was found to have "migrated". Repsol, the State owned Spanish giant, is drilling next to PAR's Bolivian site and, if stories from the jungle can be believed, may have scored a hit. It seems the Repsol drill produced similar results to the PAR exercise, prompting thoughts the oil which so many expected to find is still available. Some suspect Repsol may help develop the PAR block. The shares are 35p.

Many reasons are given for a company going private. Tetronics, a supplier of high temperature equipment, has come up with a new twist. It has decided its "best interests" are no longer served by having a public market in its shares. A major shareholder, Alan Heber-Percy recently died. The shares were 95p on Ofex.