The headline figures in Bloomsbury's results at the end of last week were far from inspiring. But the real highlight of the update was the news that sales of electronic books had rocketed. Of course, the rise of e-books does present challenges for publishers. The most obvious will be the need for companies such as Bloomsbury to be agile enough to deal with the globalisation of the book trade as e-readers spread around the world. Bloomsbury does not deserve to be sold, but the valuation makes us wary of buying at this point. Hold, says the Independent.As the Times has written before, Harvey Nash is one of the more reliable ways of taking the temperature of the corporate world, because the performance of this headhunter and recruitment specialist reflects the confidence of big companies and their willingness to take on expensive new staff. At present, and in contrast to some of the gloomier macroeconomic trends, the patient is in fine fettle. Nash's first quarterly update finds revenues up 23% year-on-year, gross profits up 22% and pre-tax profits 32% higher. From here on, those growth figures will look less impressive, set against strong comparables last year. The shares, up 2.75 at 88p, now sell on almost 14 times this year's earnings, which looks high enough. A strong hold, says the Times.Similar to many other engineering companies, Avingtrans, over the past year, has seen its business and share price recover as the global economy climbed out of recession. The interim results were good and were accompanied by the guidance that the full-year numbers would be ahead of expectations and there is no reason to doubt that this will be the case. However, it is Sigma China, part of the aerospace division, which has the most exciting prospects given the significant growth anticipated in the Chinese aerospace industry over the next two decades. The Scotsman says that the group is not just offering a cyclical recovery and recommends a buy.Renold's full-year figures were slightly below the estimates pencilled in by FinnCap analysts at the time of the Manchester-based engineer's last update, which could have been part of the reason why the stock fell last night. However, we think a more plausible trigger is the rally since the slump seen in early March. Indeed, even after the pullback, Renold remains well above the levels seen just two months ago. Moreover, the figures were hardly horrific, according to the Independent, which recommends a buy.The ordeal is almost over at First Artist Corporation. The company has been dragged down by a range of unprofitable peripheral assets. These have now been sold, one of them to the former management, and the group is out of financial planning, sports, management, Scandinavia and the rest, focused firmly on Dewynters and Spot and Company of Manhattan, which runs a similar business in New York. The company is now being renamed Pivot Entertainment. The shares were 1p higher at 30.25p yesterday; bulletin board postings suggesting they could double or more from here should be taken with a huge pinch of salt, though, says the Times.---BCPlease note: Digital Look provides a round-up of news, tips and information that is impacting share prices and the market. Digital Look cannot take any responsibility for information provided by third parties. This is for your general information only as not intended to be relied upon by users in making an investment decision or any other decision. Please obtain a copy of the relevant publication and carry out your own research before considering acting on any of this information.
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