Latham Timber Share News (LTHM)

Shares in Europa Oil & Gas gushed ahead after it said drilling at the Barchiz-1 exploration well in Romania encountered oligocene sandstone reservoirs similar to those seen in a nearby field.'Clearly we are extremely encouraged by this result and look forward to seeing the flow test results in the coming weeks,' said managing director Paul Barrett.Regal Petroleum has admitted receiving a number of takeover approaches following speculation in the press."The discussions are at a preliminary stage and hence there can be no certainty that any offer for the company will be forthcoming," it said in a brief statement Thursday. The shares bombed in September following "poorer than anticipated" production and the resignation of the chief executive David Greer. Thames Valley developer Cardiff Property swung to a pre-tax profit of £500,000 in the year ended 30 September from a loss of £656,000 12 months ago.But while the level of tenant enquiries for commercial property in the area has marginally improved for the first time in over three years, chairman Richard Wollenberg doesn't foresee a recovery in residential property values in the short term.Alexon has performed "robustly" since the beginning of August, lifting like-for-like sales by 0.4%, which includes a "tough" six weeks around the government's Comprehensive Spending Review. The ladies fashion retailer that mostly operates out of concessions in large stores said the trading performance across the entire brand portfolio has been encouraging in recent weeks, although it's still cautious given the consumer environment remains uncertain. Promotional merchandise company Altitude said its information technology arm, Trade Only, has signed a deal to supply iPROMOTEu and its distributors with a cloud based software solution. iPROMOTEu operates a network of independent distributors of promotional products in the United States.Foundry group Castings saw a sharp uplift in sales in the six months ended 30 September, driven by the recovering fortunes of heavy vehicle production in Europe. The group expects this increase will continue at a much slower rate throughout 2011. Revenue rose to £44.60m from £25.97m at the interim stage last year. Profit before tax soared to £5.12m from £1.89m a year earlier. The board has proposed an interim dividend of 2.71p.Shares in timber merchant James Latham hardened after the company announced a handsome increase in pre-tax profit to £4.59m from £3.12m the year before. Sales in the six months to the end of September rose 13.4% to £65.99m from £58.20m the year before. The company is proposing to pay an interim dividend of 3.0p, up from 2.5p last year. The company continued to see strong revenue streams in October and November though margins remain under pressure. "Future levels of activity in many sectors are unclear and this makes it difficult to predict future trading patterns. The level of bad debt has been below our predictions and below the levels seen last year, but there are signs that companies will come under pressure again this winter," said company chairman Peter Latham. TETRA digital mobile radios provider Sepura saw earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation slide to £6.1m in the six months to 1 October from £7.0m the year before on total revenue that was more or less unchanged from a year earlier at £31.5m. "We increased volumes by 28%, secured an important new contract from the State of Rheinland-Pfalz and have seen increasing geographical diversity in our customer base. We are also encouraged by signs of recovery in our commercial markets, especially in the energy sector in Latin America and Australasia," said Sepura chairman John Hughes. The interim dividend has been increased to 0.45p from 0.42p.European property fund Terra Catalyst's NAV at end September was 81.2p per share representing a 15% uplift compared to six months earlier. As at this date, the "look through" NAV of TCF is estimated at 149p per share. "The European commercial property market remains at the relatively early stages of a major liquidation process and we continue to expect this to throw up further significant opportunities for TCF," it added.Bglobal has signed an agreement with Ladbrokes to install smart meters in 950 of its retail outlets across the United Kingdom. In addition to supplying and installing the meters, Bglobal will provide Ladbrokes with meter reading, data collection and data analysis services.