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Mining stocks were under heavy selling pressure on Friday afternoon as the sector pulls back after a decent performance over the past month. Even including today's 1.05% average drop, mining stocks have jumped around 10% over the last 30 days. Precious metals miner Fresnillo was hammered today, leading the fallers on the FTSE 100 with a 5% fall, after a downgrade by UBS from 'buy' to 'neutral' after the stock's recent strength. Since September 10th 2012, Fresnillo has gained 7% while silver prices have fallen 9%. This compares with the average fall for silver stocks (under UBS's coverage) of 2%. "We believe this outperformance was driven by increased investor appetite for high-quality assets (which FRES offers)," said analyst Chris Lichtenheldt.

For the six months ended 30th September revenues were £27m (2011: £28.3m) producing a pre-tax loss of £0.54m compared with a pre-tax profit of £0.96m in the first half of 2011.

"I am confident, as we move forward and the management team focuses on improving Hornby's financial performance, that Nick has the skills and the fresh perspective to add significant value," he said. Stone faces quite a challenge; in November Hornby said it was scrapping its dividend following poor interim results. The firm expects its performance in the current financial year will be "approximately break-even'. It laid the blame for the poor performance mainly on supply chain disruption at one of its largest suppliers in China. Two other reasons given were disappointing sales of London 2012 merchandise and weak demand, particularly in the UK.

Hornby has announced a new Finance Director as the struggling model maker aims to get up a head of steam going into 2013. Nick Stone will join the company on 14th January from software and consultancy group KBC Advanced Technologies where worked as FD for 11 years. Andrew Morris, the current FD, will leave Hornby during the first quarter of 2013 following an agreed handover period to join a privately owned pharmaceutical business. Chief Executive Frank Martin said Stone brought with him a thorough understanding of working at a strategic level within a number of quoted PLCs, particularly those with international operations.

In addition, Costain has a preferred bidder position on over £400m-worth of contracts. The company added that it finished the year with a strong cash position and no significant borrowings. Chief Executive Andrew Wyllie said his business continued to be successful by focusing on meeting the increasingly integrated service requirements of major customers.

Engineering group Costain said its full year results would come in in line with expectations when it reports in March. As a result of new orders and contract extensions the group finished the year with an order book of £2.4bn - just off the £2.5bn at the end of 2011 - of which over 90% is repeat orders. The firm said more than £700m of work had already been secured for 2013, topping the previous year's figure of £650m

"Despite the challenging economic background, Marshalls continues to target growth markets within the Public Sector and Commercial end market," the company statement said. "Street furniture, water management and internal natural stone flooring are seen as particular growth areas, in addition to the continuing commitment to home, rail and retail." A reorganisation of the firm in response to continuing uncertainty about the market environment had reduced both fixed costs and net debt, Marshalls said. Cash realised from surplus property sales, accelerated inventory reduction and reduced capital expenditure is ahead of plan, it added. This resulted in year-end net debt falling from £77m in 2011 to £64m in the last year. This puts the company on track to meet its target net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation ratio of two times cover by the end of 2013.

Marshalls, the landscape and garden products firm, said a mixture of appalling weather and tough trading led to a seven per cent drop in revenue over the last year. Current group trading is in line with expectations, the firm added in the update. Revenue for the year ended 31st December 2012 was £309m, down from £334m the year before. Sales to the Public Sector and Commercial end market, which represent approximately 63% of Marshalls' sales, were down 6%. Sales to the Domestic end market, which represent approximately 32% of sales, were down 12% compared with the prior year period. The group's international business continued to make steady progress, the company said, and was now approaching 5% of group sales.

The firm's ship broking operation has been hard hit by the continued cyclical downturn in the shipping industry, with freight rates falling and downward pressure on asset prices across a number of sectors. Tightness in the debt market, especially for second hand tonnage, has further reduced the volume of sales and the value of the vessels hitting its revenues.

Ship broker Clarkson said that since its interim management statement at the start of November, when it issued a profit warning, trading had continued in line with expectations. The two line update gave no other detail than full year results to the end of December are due on 7th March. Last November's profit warning was blamed on global economic uncertainty reflected in reduced freight rates and lower asset prices. At the time the company said short-term outlook for rates and values was uncertain, with demand/supply imbalance a brake on recovery and continued weakness in capital markets. Lower than anticipated activity in the second half, particularly in broking and financial, had resulted in a reduction in the board's expectations for the full year results, it added.

"This farm-down continues our long-term strategy of re-allocating exploration capital over a wider number of opportunities, with the 13.5% remaining interest which Bridge retains in the licence, continuing to provide material upside potential."

AIM-listed Bridge Energy said Friday that through its wholly owned subsidiary, Bridge Energy, it has completed an agreement with Agora Oil & Gas, which is owned by Cairn Energy, and JX Nippon Exploration & Production for the farm-down of a 16.5 per cent working interest in the P1763 Aragon prospect in the UK Northern North Sea. All of the companies have agreed to participate in drilling a well to test the Aragon prospect before the first quarter of 2015. Once approval have been received from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Bridge will then hold a revised interest of 13.5%, while MPX North Sea will own 22.5% (operator), Agora Oil & Gas 30%, JX Nippon Exploration & Production 25% and Sorgenia E&P 9%. Chief Executive Officer of Bridge Energy, Tom Reynolds, said: "We are pleased both Cairn and JX Nippon have joined us in this licence, which demonstrates technical support for the potential within this acreage.

It is valued at around £350,000 and would also be fulfilled this financial year with further sales expected next year, the firm added. The firm's shares were up 3.8% by 1300 following the announcement.

A further two contracts are based on its ThruVision product, which detects objects under a person's clothes, such as weapons, explosives or smuggled contraband. The first of these is to a £300,000 contract with a US customer for the "standoff detection of person-borne explosive devices", and should lead to further sales next year, Digital said. The second, with a new UK-based partner working in specialist sectors in the Middle East, is for the protection of high-profile overseas government locations.

Surveillance technology firm Digital Barriers has announced over one million pounds of new contracts with US and Middle Eastern customers. The biggest is a £400,000 contract with an unnamed US government agency to develop new video surveillance products for the law enforcement sector. The new gadgets will be based on the company's TVI technology, which offers wireless transmission of surveillance data, video and audio. Digital's managing director Colin Evans said the government agency selecting TVI as their platform of choice confirmed its status as a world-class technology. "Once development has been completed, we will have a range of new advanced video surveillance products that we can take to multiple customers in the US and around the world," he said.

Positive Points: Management reported a narrowing in profit guidance, a result of improved cost control measures, markdowns and gross margin improvements. A full year profit within £7 million each side of £618 million has been predicted. Next said sales in the fourth quarter had risen 3.9% year-on-year, aided by new store openings. In keeping with a developing trend, Next said online sales from its Directory home shopping unit were 11.2% higher than during the same period last year while sales at its 500 UK and Irish High Street stores only improved by 0.8%. Next remains a very cash-generative company. The group's share buy-back scheme continues to support group earnings per share. In the year to date, the group has purchased 7.5 million shares at a total cost of £241 million. A progressive dividend policy continues to be pursued. The board recommended a 12.7% rise in the interim dividend to 31pence per share when announcing half-year results in September.

Negative Points: The group warned that the retail environment would remain "subdued but steady" this year.The outlook for consumers remains challenging. Continued growth in price inflation ahead of wage inflation indicates that real wages will continue to fall, albeit at a slower rate than last year. Whilst new store space is targeted, Next reported in September that the biggest barrier to growth was a lengthy planning permission process, which has prevented the company from opening new space earlier. Like any apparel retailer, Next is susceptible to fashion and weather risk in a highly competitive retailing industry.

Trading statement: The company's traditionally cautious outlook statement has done little to temper investors' enthusiasm in early trade. A combination of better margins, cost controls and markdowns have contributed to a slight profits upgrade, which has been well received. In particular, the Directory business remains the jewel in the crown, whilst early indications for its post-Christmas sale are positive. On a more cautious note, the company remains embroiled in a fiercely competitive sector where the consumer is acutely aware of making cost-conscious decisions. In addition, the shares have had a very strong run in the recent past, having risen 38% over the last year, as compared to a 6% gain for the wider FTSE100. This has led to a consensus which suggests that the shares are mostly up with events, the general view being that the shares are a hold, albeit a strong one.

Informa (INF) Share price: 455p ■ Investment bank Nomura reckons it's one of private equity's chief targets for 2013 ■ Events side re-structured; cash flow strong

SOCO International (SIA) Share price: 365.90 Asia's energy deficit fuelling takeovers of companies like SOCO Management has had to deny that the company is for sale