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Leo Quinn, QinetiQ Chief Executive Officer, said: "This agreement is recognition of the expertise of our people and their ability to consistently deliver support to Britain's Armed Forces. "We are committed to continuing to invest in these capabilities over the next five-year period to provide this vital service to the MOD in support of the front line."

Defence firm QinetiQ said Friday that alongside the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), it has successfully completed the regular five-yearly review of the existing 25-year long term partnering agreement (LTPA) and together agreed terms for the provision of test and evaluation and training support services through to March 2018. As such, the MOD will pay �998m across the third five-year term of the contract, which is valued at �5.6bn over the 25-year period. The contract includes five-yearly financial reviews and a 25-year extension option. Since the LTPA commenced, QinetiQ has more than doubled output under the contract (measured by milestones delivered) which is also on track to achieve �700m savings for the MOD over its lifetime.

It further reported that Smart421 and Eclipse "continue to perform well in their respective markets". Meanwhile, Kcom was described as making "a strong contribution to the quarter's performance". Commenting on trading, Bill Halbert, Executive Chairman of KCOM group stated: "Market conditions continue to be challenging. The group has however continued to exploit successfully the opportunities that are there, with positive momentum across all brands. "We remain confident about the quality of our business operations and their capacity to generate cash and reconfirm our commitment to a minimum 10% growth in the dividend in this financial year."

FTSE 250 communications services provider Kcom has published an interim management statement for the third quarter ending December 31st disclosing progress in the face of challenging market conditions. In the update, which did not include any numbers, the company reported that public sector remained an important opportunity for the business's growth, adding that Kcom had secured a number of contract renewals which had further contributed to an increase in the company's multi-year order backlog. The group reported that Kcom was named as the preferred bidder by East Sussex County Council to provide a hosted managed communications service on behalf of public sector organisations as part of the Link Consortium arrangement.

Commercial banknote printer De La Rue has reiterated that results for the current year are expected to be flat on 2011/12 after an 'in-line' performance in the third quarter. The firm said on Friday that its Currency Division is expected to produce 6.4bn banknotes and around 9,000 tonnes of banknote paper in the financial year ending March 31st. The year before, print volumes were the same at 6.4bn, though paper volumes were much higher at 11,000. De La Rue said that order intake has been "satisfactory" since the end of the first half (September 30th). However, on a positive note, while De La Rue said in November that it had experienced delays to a number of significant orders and these would not be received before the year-end, Friday's statement highlighted that "some" of these have now been collected. "As anticipated the banknote paper market remains challenging, reflecting the introduction of additional capacity by other manufacturers, with continuing evidence of pricing pressure," the company said. The company said it remains confident of delivering its "Improvement Plan" which is targeting operating profit of over �100m in the 2013/14 financial year. This compared with an operating profit of �63.1m in 2011/12.

BG Group (BG.) is still something of a candidate for recovery. Shares fell sharply at the end of October after the oil & gas giant warned of potentially flat production output for 2013. Since then there has been a recovery of sorts with the arrival of a new CEO, and even M&A speculation surrounding the group from certain quarters. It also helped that BG revealed that production had started on time at its Sapinhoá field offshore Brazil at the beginning of January

Chip designer ARM Holdings (ARM) is rarely far from the headlines, and the start of 2013 has been no exception, if only in regard to the recent trials and tribulations of a certain key customer, Apple (AAPL). But the question currently is whether after the latest surge, shares of the already premium rated group have been bid up too high. In this regard, the double downgrades on January 15th from both Morgan Stanley and Investec, on valuation grounds are as ominous as they are noteworthy. Ironically, the stock has bounced back some 60p since the dip following this news.

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FTSE 250-listed global integrated business enterprise Mitsubushi Corporation posted a 14 per cent decline in its gross profit to 744.7bn yen (approximately 5.1bn pounds) in the nine months to December 31st, a trading update has disclosed. The company, which develops and operates businesses across a range of industries, indicated that the reduction in gross profit reflected lower sales prices at an Australian coking coal subsidiary. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 20.1bn yen, or 3.0%, to 652.1bn yen, mainly due to higher expenses in line with business expansion. Although other income-net decreased due to factors such as deterioration in foreign exchange gains and losses, net financial income improved the group said due to higher dividend income from resource-related business investees. As a result, income before taxes and equity earnings of affiliated companies declined 128.1bn yen, or 35%, to 241.2bn yen.

The bank's core capital rose to 10.8% from 10.3% at the close of 2011. Additionally, BBVA announced that it reached an agreement to sell its 64.3% stake in the Chilean pension fund to MetLife for €1.521bn. By 10:05 in Madrid, shares were up 0.12% at €7.33.

BBVA has posted a fourth quarter profit that topped the consensus, turning around last year's loss even as it completed provision charges against real-estate assets. Spain's second-largest bank generated a €20m profit for the fourth quarter compared to a €139m loss last year when it took a €1bn goodwill charge at its US division. The consensus was expecting a €80.3m loss. BBVA posted a 2012 full-year profit of €1.67bn, a 44.2% drop from 2011, after it completed all the real-estate provisions required by the Spanish government. The Factset consensus of analysts was expecting a profit of €1.634bn. Excluding Unnim, which is being integrated into the bank, adjusted earnings totalled €4.406bn, only 2.2% less than in 2011. The full-year interest margin rose 15.0% to €15.122bn. On the other hand, the bad loan rate rose to 5.1% from 4.0%.

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Trading is holding up despite that tough backdrop and earnings should rise as self-help measures feed through. The dividend payout is forecast to rise solidly, too - meaning a prospective yield that's well over 3 per cent. Yet, despite having risen 50 per cent since June, the shares remain undemandingly rated - Peel Hunt estimates that the ratio of Spirit's enterprise value (market value plus net debt) to cash profits for 2013 is 7.6 while the ratio is nearer nine for other pub companies with largely freehold-owned estates. As Spirit continues to make progress, expect that discount to close. but as always dyor gl

Management announced further measures to fine-tune the business this month, too. These involve scrapping the sub-scale Original Pub Company brand, leading to some cost savings and a more streamlined structure. Chief executive Mike Tye used that opportunity to also announce his intention of making Spirit the "number one hospitality company in the UK". That may sound ambitious, but brokers think the overall strategy should deliver decent earnings growth. Strip out hefty one-off hits, such as last year's �595m property revaluation charge, and Peel Hunt estimates that adjusted earnings will grow 13 per cent in 2013. There is, however, a hefty net debt pile to worry about and that rose �32.5m in 2012 to �949m - although chunky gearing ratios aren't unusual for the pub operators. Weak consumer conditions are a concern, too. The UK economy contracted by 0.3 per cent in 2012's last quarter and, with wage levels still slipping, consumers are in no rush to spend.

Specifically, during its last financial year, 178 refurbishments of managed pubs were completed - from a 791-strong managed estate - with the entire portfolio likely to be fully refurbished by March 2014. "The positive impact from the self-help programme in managed has further to run, with a full contribution from full-year 2012 investment to come through in full-year 2013," reckons analyst Nick Batram at broker Peel Hunt. In common with much of the sector, Spirit's leased estate is weaker. This month's trading statement revealed that like-for-like net turnover there had fallen 2.1 per cent, with underlying net income down 2.9 per cent. But, even here, there's scope for optimism. To begin with, the income slippage largely reflected last year's rent rebasing exercise and Spirit is investing to spruce up the estate. Management is also improving the retail discipline within the leased operations, through a focus on new sales, marketing and pricing programmes - which should drive income. Spirit is focusing on the estate's best pubs, too, and around 60 of the worst performing leased pubs have been sold, with another 40 or so earmarked for disposal. "The opportunity within leased is perhaps greater than the market perceives," says Mr Batram.

Strong earnings growth is expected from Spirit Pub Company this year, driven by a combination of self-help measures and operational improvements, which should encourage the shares to re-rate given their substantial valuation discount to peers. Since 2011's demerger from Punch Taverns (PUB), Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) has served up a solid performance. Its trading statement this month revealed that its managed estate had grown like-for-like sales by a decent 2.3 per cent in the 20 weeks to 5 January with underlying sales having jumped 5 per cent over the Christmas period alone. Meanwhile, food sales - at such pubs brands as Fayre & Square, Flaming Grill and Chef & Brewer - grew 3.3 per cent. Admittedly, that's not the sector's best performance - Greene King (GNK), for instance, grew underlying retail sales by 3.7 per cent in the 36 weeks to 6 January, while JD Wetherspoon (JDW) saw its underlying sales jump 7.6 per cent in the 24 weeks to 13 January. But, arguably, Spirit's food focus leaves it more accurately compared with such players as Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) and, on that basis, it's holding its own - Mitchells' underlying sales rose 2.1 per cent in the year to the end of September. Moreover, Spirit's self-help measures mean that it can point to better improvement prospects than many of its rivals.

The level of uncertainty surrounding APR is shown by the split of analysts' ratings: six rate the company a buy, but nine rate it no better then a hold or an outright sell. Forecasts are wide as well, with Peel Hunt's near the bottom of the range (see table). Espirito Santo is more bullish, forecasting EPS of 88.5� this year. Depending on which is used, the PE ratio ranges from 12.5 to 15 - a significant discount to sector peer Aggreko, which remains on 20 times forecast earnings. But to hit Espirito Santo's EPS target APR has to deliver revenue growth of 38 per cent, which will be challenging given the outlook. Last year, when APR had more funds and a better economic backdrop, it only delivered 28 per cent growth. Precipitous falls may follow even a small miss on those ambitious numbers.but as always dyor gl

The problem is with the diesel turbines, an older technology. Peel Hunt estimates that diesel generators made up around 60 per cent of the fleet at the end of 2012. More worrying is that the broker reckons around 200MW, or 15 per cent of the current fleet, was 'off-hire' or sitting idle. This is not a cause for concern just yet, because a fleet utilisation rate of 80-85 per cent is very respectable. The problem comes if work is slow in coming through or margins bleed as work is chased. APR itself hinted at the problem when it said one of its focuses for 2013 would be increasing utilisation of the diesel fleet. There are other signs of slowing growth. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012 was $57m, down 39 per cent on the prior year. Moreover, the current order backlog of 11,592MW-months, while 80 per cent up on the end of 2011, remains 583MW lower than in December. Applying the current fleet size, the order book provides revenue visibility of around 38 weeks. There is always a risk of straining cash when companies embark on rapid expansion plans. APR started 2012 with no debt, and cash of $63m. Last month, APR had $21m of cash and debt of $205m on the balance sheet, giving net debt of $184m. The issue here is not so much in the absolute levels as the movement. APR still has plenty of headroom on its $400m facility, but we'd like to see growth funded by cash rather than debt.