Driver Grp Share News (DRV)

Aim-listed insurance broker CBG said it has responded positively and quickly to the current economic slowdown. "The recent period has seen earnings decline in many lines of business and, as a result, we have put in place a significant cost reduction programme which has been focused on the reorganisation of core functions," it said.Pre-tax profit fell to £171,000 against £930,000 in the same period last year on revenue that dropped to £4.86m from £5.66m last year.Driver chief executive Steve Driver will become executive chairman after Michael Davis steps down as non-executive chairman on 30 September. Dave Webster, currently chief operating officer (COO) at the provider of commercial and dispute resolution services to the construction industry, will become the new chief executive and the COO position will be withdrawn.Office developer Development Securities saw net asses decline of 11.2%, reducing to £143.0m (31st December 2008: £161.0m).Dividend per share was kept at 2.4p each.Shares in the oil and gas firms Europa and Aurelian gushed higher after they announced the spudding of the Voitinel-1 well in Romania.The well is 33.75% owned by Aurelian and 28.75% owned by Europa. The remaining 37.5% is owned by Romanian firm Romgaz. Chip designer Imagination Technologies gained after it signed a multi-use license agreement with Ambarella for a member of Imagination's POWERVR SGX graphics processor family. Ambarella will deploy the technology in future consumer electronics designs. Under the terms of its licensing arrangements Imagination receives license fees and royalty revenues on shipment of SoCs incorporating Imagination's IP.