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"With the imminent submission of the Varisolve and the good progress in our beads business, we are on track with our strategic priorities and focused on executing our growth strategy."

During the period, BTG made headway in partnered programmes. Zytiga received US and European label extensions to treat men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have not received prior chemotherapy. The FDA accepted a standard review of Sanofi and its subsidiary Genzyme's Biologics License Application for the approval of Lemtrada for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis. A response to the application is expected in the second half of this year. "We have continued to make excellent operational and financial progress and now expect full year revenues to be around the top end of previous guidance," said Chief Executive of BTG, Louise Makin.

Specialist healthcare company BTG said Thursday it expects full-year revenues at the 'top end' of it guidance following strong trading of the group's medical products. The FTSE 250 business said the last three months have wielded positive results, particularly from acute care items. The board anticipates revenues for the year to March 31st 2013 to reach the higher point of its estimate between �205m to �215m. Financial results were boosted by operational progress including its interventional medicine business, according to BTG. Last year BTG was granted approval in the US for its PARAGON Bead and PRECISION Bead products for the treatment of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (cancer of the bile ducts) and uveal melanoma (eye cancer) respectively. BTG is also seeking approval of Varisolve as a comprehensive treatment for varicose veins which will be submitted to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) within the next few days.

A month later the group announced the renewal of its mortgage warehouse facility with Macquarie Bank's London branch, increasing the facility to �250m from �200m. The facility, rated by Fitch Ratings, will be available until December 2016. The extension and increase in the loan facility brings total warehouse capacity within the group to �450m and will be used to support growth plans in the buy-to-let market. The company was considering the acquisition of Hampshire Trust, a wholly-owned bank subsidiary of National Counties Building Society. Discussions have since terminated but Paragon said it will be exploring other avenues including the establishment of a banking subsidiary in the group. "During the period, the group has made excellent progress, successfully managing the portfolio of originated and acquired assets, seeking further opportunities to expand by acquisition, developing the new lending business, increasing the funding available for buy-to-let mortgage originations and completing a further securitisation," Paragon stated.

The group also made .6m of new buy-to-let loans and 0.5m of further advances. By the end of the period the pipeline of new business amounted to 102.7m. "The credit quality of the new lending business written in the period has remained excellent.," the company said. "Following the increase in funding capacity the group has enlarged and extended its lending activities and we anticipate increased business volumes during the second quarter." Cash generation from the group's portfolios remained strong. Free cash balances came to 154.4m at December 31st, compared with 127.7m at September 30th. In October the company completed, through its subsidiary Paragon Mortgages, a 200m securitisation transaction consisting exclusively of buy-to-let assets.

The Paragon Group of Companies reported Thursday a 16.7 per cent increase in operating profits for the last three months of 2012. The FTSE 250 provider of mortgages and personal loans said its financial performance was in line with management's expectations with operating profits of �23.7m, compared with �20.3m for the same period the previous year. Pre-tax profits, after a charge of �0.2m for fair value hedging items, were �23.5 million for the period. A strong portfolio pushed profits higher during the quarter with credit performance of consumer loans in line with management forecasts.

Shares were down 1.49% at 150.62p in early trading on Thursday.

"Rank has delivered a satisfactory set of results in what is a challenging economic environment," said Chief Executive Ian Burke. "Growth in customer numbers, visits and spend per visit across the Group has been achieved by strong performances in our Grosvenor Casinos venues and in meccabingo.com." As for the Gala Casinos acquisition, the Competition Commission announced last month that its final report on the proposed transaction would be released on February 20th.

Shares in FTSE 250 bingo and casino group Rank dipped into the red on Thursday morning after the company missed profit forecasts with its first-half results amid a 'challenging economic environment'. Rank, which is in the process of acquiring the Gala Casinos network from Gala Coral (purchased for 205m in May), saw revenue increase by 5.0% in the six months to December 31st to 312m, up from 295.9m the same period the year before. However, adjusted profit before tax came in 31.3m, down 4.0% from 32.5m and slightly below Panmure Gordon's �34m estimate. This company said this was mainly due to one-off additional marketing costs in Blue Square Bet and higher operating costs in Mecca bingo venues. Nevertheless, the company bumped up its interim dividend per share by 14% from 1.1p to 1.25p. The company said it remains confident about its outlook for the full year, but admitted that the second half has got off to a "slow start".

In a statement the company said: "The Asset Management business has continued to see net inflows, recording results ahead of the prior year. The Wealth & Investment division reported net inflows and profits ahead of the prior year, and has continued to make good progress with the integration of Williams de Bro�. "The South African Specialist Banking business reported a solid increase in operating profit in Rand terms benefiting from growth in revenue and cost containment. The Australian Specialist Banking business is performing significantly ahead of the prior period mainly as a result of a substantial decrease in impairments. The UK Specialist Banking business reported results behind the prior period largely due to lower investment income earned. "Overall results have been impacted by the depreciatio

Investec, the FTSE 250 Anglo-South African banking group, said Thursday that operating costs rose by four per cent in the nine months ended December 31st, compared to the same period the previous year. More positively, total operating income rose 1.0%, while impairment losses on loans and advances decreased by 20% and the credit loss charge as a percentage of average gross loans and advances annualised for the period amounted to 0.83% (March 31st 2012: 1.12%). Operating profit before goodwill, acquired intangibles, non-operating items and taxation and after non-controlling interests was 5.0% ahead of the prior year. Since the end of the group's financial year, March 31st, third party assets under management increased by 7.0% to �103.3bn - an increase of 12% on a currency neutral basis. The group recorded net inflows of �2.8bn. Core loans and advances remained flat at �18.1bn - an increase of 7.0% on a currency neutral basis, while customer accounts (deposits) decreased by 4.0% to �24.4bn - an increase of 3.0% on a currency neutral basis.

Funds under management were stable at £26bn in the first quarter while advisory funds under management saw net outflows. The group said that this was as a result of ongoing service reviews as part of the move to new pricing. Underlying inflows into discretionary continued at the strong levels achieved during the preceding 12 months, whilst outflows in the quarter were higher than in recent quarters due to exceptional outflows relating to the departure of an associate managed team. Going forwards, the group reported that it is in a period of consolidation after expansion-led growth of recent years. It stated that the priority remained on the continued improvement in the quality of service to clients, increasing shareholder returns through improved operational efficiency and ensuring that the highest standards of compliance with regulatory requirements continue to be met. Brewin Dolphin is an independently-owned private client investment manager. It has 39 offices located in the UK and Channel Islands

Total income increased by 13.7 per cent to 67.8m pounds in the first quarter of the financial year at Brewin Dolphin, an interim management statement from the company disclosed on Thursday morning. The rise in income in the three months ending January 30th stood in marked contrast to the 5.0% decline recorded in the preceding quarter ending September 30th. At the time, the preceding quarter's income decline was put down to an ongoing reduction of trail income in preparation from the Retail Distribution Review implementation. In Thursday's interim statement, the group said that the trend towards an increasing proportion of recurring fee income was continuing, albeit at a marginally slower pace than during 2012.

Advertising revenue declined by 8% at constant current to 11.2m and subscriptions declined 2% at constant currency to 49m. The decline in subscription revenues was described as being in line with the gradual decrease in growth rates experienced since the end of 2011. The decline in advertising was described as being consistent with a trend seen in the second half of financial year 2012. Net debt as of December 31st was described as 26.5m, representing a decrease of 4.3m since the year-end.

International online information and events group Euromoney Institutional Investor has reported a small increase in its revenue during the period from October 1st to January 30th, according to an interim management statement issued by the company on Thursday. The company recorded a total revenue for the period of �95.1m compared to �94.6m in the corresponding quarter in 2012. Since reporting its 2012 results in November, the company stated that trading had continued in line with the board's expectations. Challenging trading conditions were experienced in the second half of financial year 2012 which had continued into the first quarter of financial year 2013, the report indicated.

"Conditions in London's commercial property markets remain supportive," Chief Executive Officer Toby Courtauld said in the statement. "The demand for well laid out retail and office space in good locations is attracting healthy levels of tenant demand."

Great Portland Estates said Thursday the value of its real estate rose 1.4 per cent in the third quarter, buoyed by retail assets in London's West End. The London-based property developer posted a valuation of £2.19bn for the last three months of 2012, a £26.5m gain quarter-on-quarter. Net asset value per share climbed 1.4% to 430p at the end of the quarter, compared to 424p at September 30th. The main drivers of the quarterly valuation uplift were West End retail, up 4.3%. Also boosting results was the value of the company's developments - including Hanover Square, an office and retail project in Mayfair - which jumped by 2.6% during the quarter. The wholly owned portfolio was valued at £1.62bn, a like-for-like valuation uplift of 1.5% on the quarter.

The net asset value (NAV) of 3i Group rose by 4.8 per cent in the three months to December 31st, an interim management statement from the company has disclosed. Reporting on its performance over the past quarter, the company stated that the NAV had grown by 4.8% to �2.86 per share before the interim dividend of 2.7p per share is paid. Simon Borrows, Chief Executive Officer of 3i, commented: "We are well into the first phase of restructuring at 3i and have made strong and measurable progress against the immediate priorities for the business that I announced in June last year. In particular, we expect to exceed the operating cost reduction targets for this financial year ending March 31st 2013." He added: "Despite challenging market conditions, strong businesses are always in demand. Over the last six months, in addition to implementing the re-organisation and cost reduction programme, we have been busy preparing for realisations within Private Equity. We expect to see the benefits of this coming through over the next 18 months, with a number of key realisations as well as an increasing level of investment activity."

Carnival Corporation plc, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as well as in London, and its wholly-owned subsidiary Carnival Investments, said it plans to sell existing Carnival plc ordinary shares periodically at times when Carnival Corp. shares are trading at a discount to Carnival plc shares. Carnival Corporation plc intends to use the net proceeds of the Carnival plc share sales to repurchase Carnival Corporation common stock on at least an equivalent basis in the US market. Any remaining proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes. The group said that, depending on market conditions, Carnival Corporation and Carnival Investments over time will sell up to 32m shares.

Independent oil and gas company Faroe Petroleum has confirmed a significant gas condensate discovery at its Rodriguez exploration well, an operational update issued by the compan on Thursday has revealed. The AIM-listed mining company said moveable hydrocarbons had been discovered in the sandstone layers in the Lange formation, which contained an estimated gas condensate column of nine metres net pay. It stated that the operator's preliminary volumetric estimates of the size of the discovery were between 19 and 126m barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: "We are very pleased to announce this gas condensate discovery on the secondary target of this Norwegian Sea exploration well. "This significant discovery gives the partnership a good indication of further upside potential on the rest of the licence block with at least two further matured and partially de-risked prospects and we look forward to its further appraisal." Faroe Petroleum's share price was down 1.09% to 136.50p at 11:19 on Thursday.