Omega Insurance Holdings has confirmed press speculation that it has received an unsolicited bid approach from Canopius Group.Canopius is proposing a cash plus shares offer for Omega.Last Friday Omega increased its estimate of the loss is likely to suffer from the New Zealand earthquake from $6.2m to $16.8m, net of reinstatement premiums and before profit commission effects.African coal exploration and development company Edenville Energy has decided to replace the current shallow, percussion drill programme at its Rukwa Coalfields project in Southern Tanzania with a more extensive deeper drill programme using diamond and reverse circulation drilling.The current shallow drilling programme cannot adequately test the down dip and lateral extensions of these deposits, the company said."The current geological surface programme confirms the thermal quality of the surface coal at Namwele and Mkomolo in addition to identifying additional coal outcrop west of Namwele," said company chairman Simon Rollason.Gold producer Vatukoula Gold Mines saw its share price lose some of its lustre Monday morning after it reported first quarter results.Gold recovered in the three months to 30 November fell to 16,565 ounces from 21,107 ounces in the preceding three months. Gold sales dipped to 18,055 ounces from 19,251 ounces but, on the bright side, the average price achieved rose to $1,314 an ounce from $1,199.Mine net operating earnings fells to £3.2m from £5.6m in the final quarter of the previous financial year. Anite has beefed up its network testing business with the acquisition of the network test and measurement product line Invex from US company CommScope.The UK provider of software solutions to the international wireless and leisure travel industries declined to reveal how much it is paying for the Invex business, but said that once the product line is integrated into Anite's business it is expected to make a small positive contribution to earnings in the first full year of ownership.Hydrogen joined the list of recruiters reporting better times in 2010, with net fee income expected to exceed £27m, compared with £17m achieved in 2009. The year end net debt position of £2m was better than expected, given the working capital investment required to finance the growth in contractor numbers. At the end of 2009, the group had net cash of £3.1m.The group remains on track to meet expectations for fiscal 2010.Shares in Anglo Asian Mining jumped after the Azerbaijan-focused gold producer reported record quarterly gold production at its Gedabek mine.The company produced 19,555 ounces of gold during the month."The year ahead looks to be promising as we continue to build our position as a mid-tier gold producer and actively look to increase the company's production profile," chief executive Reza Vaziri said.Hambledon Mining was less fortunate. The Kazakhstan-focused miner's shares were lower after it said it produced 6,491 ounces of recovered gold and 13,562 of recovered silver between October and December. Oil and gas explorer and producer Ithaca Energy's production in the fourth quarter of 2010 averaged 8,754 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), of which 4,148 boepd is attributable to Ithaca. Current average daily production levels for the company currently exceed the company's target of 4,400 boepd.The average realised price for oil production from Beatrice and Jacky in October was $83.826 per barrel and in November was $89.856 per barrel (before hedging and any additional price uplift at the point of sale to a third party). Deliveries for December are currently being priced; gas pricing figures for Anglia and Topaz will be included in future updates, the company said. Mobile messaging services specialist Synchronica has won an initial contract worth more than $0.5m with an unnamed a device manufacturer targeting the African mass market. The device manufacturer will bundle the white-labelled Synchronica Mobile Gateway with a number of MediaTek-based handsets, enabling consumers in Africa to experience a BlackBerry-like service on a range of low-cost devices.Business software group Microgen said performance in the dying months of 2010 continued to be ahead of the board's expectations. Consequently, the company expects revenues for 2010 to be in excess of £33m, while operating profit before intangible amortisation and exceptional items should top £8m.Growth in the revenue of the Microgen Aptitude Solutions Division in 2010 was in excess of 40%, the statement added. The group's gross cash balance at 31 December 2010 was £25.4m while net funds totalled £23.5m.Security, defence and fire protection provider Westminster Group has secured a new contract for the supply of a sophisticated countermeasures system to a national government in the Asia-pacific region. The contract is valued around $645,000. Environmental investment manager Impax Asset Management hit new highs Monday on news pre-tax profit more than doubled to £5.2m in the 12 months to 30 September - £1m from the redemption of a loan note helped - on revenue up 48% to £15.3m. Assets under management rise 44% to £1.82bn and has hit £2.25bn by the end of December."The backdrop to environmental investing has continued to strengthen over the past 12 months as governments around the world have declared ambitious policies to reduce pollution, improve energy security and stimulate the growth of domestic clean technology sectors," chairman Keith Falconer said.Range Resources has signed heads of agreement with Red Emperor Resources which will take a 20% interest in Block VIa and Block VIb in Georgia, committing it to pay 40% of the drilling costs - up to $14m - for the planned two-well programme.The AIM-listed firm will hand over 10% and Georgian partner Strait Oil the other 10%, but still maintain a 40% interest in the two blocks.North Africa-focused oil and gas group Circle Oil said preliminary analysis of open hole logging of the upper part of the recently drilled Al- Amir SE-7X well in Egypt indicates potential for hydrocarbons in the South Gharib Formation in the order of 6 feet in thickness.This interval is similar to that encountered in the Al Amir SE-6X and Al Ola-1X wells, but the interval has not been tested and, as planned, is now cased off. Bus and coach builder Optare looks to be on the right lines after it said its order book showed further improvement in the final quarter of 2010, rising from £24.4m at the end of September to more than £34m at the end of the year.The board anticipates continued growth in the order book and a stronger than forecast output in 2011, which will offset the disappointment of lower sales and earnings in the winter months of 2010. The company said the extreme weather conditions and delays in some customer orders was responsible for the lower than hoped for performance.Shares in XP Power hits a 52-week high after the manufacturer of critical power control components to the electronics industry said 2010 profit before tax will exceed current market expectations.Revenues for the twelve months ended 31 December 2010 are 36% higher than those achieved in 2009. "The group has entered the new financial year with its order books at record levels and remains well placed to deliver further revenue and earnings growth in 2011," the company said.
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