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Begbies said it expects UK corporate insolvencies to remain broadly stable. Looking ahead the group added: "We anticipate an improvement in activity in the second half of the financial year during the traditionally busier winter months. Given this, we currently anticipate that the group's performance for the year as a whole will be broadly in line with last year." Net debt stood at £18.3m from £20.1m in April this year and down from £27.3m the same time last year.

AIM-listed insolvency consultancy Begbies Traynor said revenues for the half year were hurt by a subdued summer insolvency market. Adjusted pre-tax profit fell to £3.2m for the six months ended October 31st 2012 from £4.1m the year before. Revenue for the period fell to £26.1m from £29.4m previously. Pre-tax profit reduced to £2m from £3.4m before while adjusted basic and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations fell to 2.5p from 3.1p in 2011. Begbies has recommended an interim dividend of 0.6p unchanged from a year earlier. Commenting on the results, Executive Chairman Ric Traynor said: "Challenging market conditions have persisted with lower levels of activity in the insolvency market over the summer months." "Overall, this led to a group performance with lower revenues and profits than the comparative period. In spite of this, the business remains profitable and continues to generate good operating margins through on-going management of the group's cost base."

Unpredictable timing of orders in Latin America affects sales"The success of this strategy is reflected in overall sales in the period of £11.45m (2011: £11.88m) which were a little lower than last year's level, mainly due to Latin America where the timing of orders, coupled with the availability of foreign currency can be unpredictable but, in the medium term these issues have tended to unwind. Nevertheless, these factors were more than outweighed by the significant improvement in margin and gross profit." He added: "The second half of the year is traditionally a stronger trading period as the incidence of respiratory disease increases and parasite numbers rise during the southern hemisphere spring and it is pleasing to note that our performance in the first two months of the second half has been strong. These traditional factors, coupled with the exciting sales opportunities offered by our entry into new markets for Aivlosin in Canada, the USA and Russia, enable us to look forward with confidence and we expect to deliver another sound full year result for our shareholders."

AIM-listed ECO Animal Health Group reported a slight reduction in its revenue for the six month period ending September 30th, according to the group's half yearly report. The company, which develops pharmaceutical products for the global animal health markets, stated that its revenue was £11.46m compared to £11.88m for the corresponding period last year. Gross profit rose 14.7% to £5.1m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based payments and foreign exchange movements, amounted to £2.0m. This was less than the £2.3m generated in the same period in 2011, but reflected product launch costs of £0.3m in the US and Canada. Peter Lawrence, Executive Chairman of the group, said: "In the light of the many new opportunities opening up to the group, we are concentrating our management and financial resources on those products and markets with the greatest potential for profitable growth and reducing exposure to those with limited margins and restricted growth potential.

"The investment programmes, which we executed at both our beef and grain operations, have created a solid foundation for sustainable growth and expansion, and this is now translating into significant revenue generation. "As our abattoir operations continue to build towards full capacity, and our retail units take market share, our turnover and margins should continue to grow, significantly enhancing shareholder value and strengthening Agriterra's position as a pan-African agriculture business."

AIM-listed African agricultural company Agriterra has reported that its group revenue rose by 115 per cent to 11.4m dollars in the financial year to November 30th. The group, which has beef ranching, maize buying, processing and farming operations in Mozambique, revealed a raft of developments at its Mozambique base in a trading and operating update published on Wednesday. Record maize meal sales were achieved from maize processing operations and new monthly milling records were set, the group stated. The group's Chimio abattoir was fully operational with production slaughter commencing earlier this month on December 3rd. Agriterra stated that it was building up abattoir operations to full expanded capacity of 4,000 head per month from current throughput of over 200 head per month. A retail unit in Chimoio commenced business on December 11th and an additional retail unit is due to open in Tete by the end of this month. Euan Kay, Agriterra Executive Director said: "The first half of this financial year has been highly successful with our grain processing operations performing extremely strongly, and our beef operations expanding and beginning to generate material revenues for the group.

The company's share of rental income including maintenance charges for the six months was reported at £13.3m, up from £9.9m the previous year. The report comes off the back of increased gain from fair value adjustment on investment property. Donald Lake, non-Executive Chairman of Unitech said: "During the first half year we have continued to make good progress in letting the space within the company's portfolio and thereby increasing rental income. This is in line with our continued belief that the maximum value for shareholders will be achieved by creating investments which are substantially complete and well-let before we monetize that value. "I would also like to take this opportunity to thanks Aubrey Adams for his significant contribution to the company over the past five years and to welcome Terry Mahony to the board." Mahony, a resident of Hong Kong, is also chairman of VinaCapital which is the largest asset management company in Vietnam with three closed ended funds listed on AIM. Unitech, which focuses on commercial real estate in India, has a market capital of £129m. Its share price dropped 1.37% to 36.00p at 15:20 Wednesday.

Unitech Corporate Parks announced higher profits in its half-yearly report Wednesday as it appointed a new non-executive director of the commercial real estate company. The investment firm reported a pre-tax profit of £17.8m in its results for the six months ended September 30th, 2012 - a 63% increase from £10.9m a year ago. The news comes as the company revealed Terence Mahony would take over as non-Executive Director from Aubrey Adams who has decided to resign on December 31st to focus on his role as head of property in the Global Restruction Group of The Royal Bank of Scotland. Mahony, 70, has more than 40 years experience in global financial companies including the Bank of London, White Weld, Paine Webber and HSBC. Unitech is confident the company will benefit from Mahony's background in emerging market investments and will help continue to drive revenue. In its latest half-yearly report the company's 60% share of the market valuation of assets were up 11.6% to £245.4m compared to £219.8m in the half ending March 2012. It reported a slight increase in net value assets at £0.53 per share, up £0.52 per share from the last half.

A return of 2.5p per share is to be proposed shortly for payment in January. The total value of the portfolio was worth £54.7m on September 30th, up from £49.2m on September 30th 2011. Chairman statement to shareholders In a statement addressed to shareholders, David Potter, Chairman of SPARK Ventures, said: "In addition to the sales made after the year end and referred to in my June statement the situation on Aspex has clarified and an excellent outcome has been achieved. As set out in our announcement of December 5th 2012, if the Aspex liquidator makes payment early in the new year, we intend to approve a payment of 2.5p per share (approximately £10.27m in aggregate). "This means that since we started the process of winding up the portfolio, and returning cash to the shareholders, you will have received over £26m whilst the company still has a significantly higher NAV than when we started in 2009. I think that these results confirm the original wisdom of seeking a five year work out and avoiding any appearance of a fire sale. The board are actively pursuing all avenues for the realisation of investments; trade sale, flotation or secondary and we are hopeful of further substantial realisations during 2013. We are also conscious of the potential value of the ultimate quoted cash shell and the embedded tax losses and will be seeking to maximise the value of these where possible."

AIM-listed SPARK Ventures, the investor in early stage digital information and technology companies, posted its half-yearly results for the period ending September 30th. The results showed that pre-tax profit quadrupled to £1.01m from £237,000 in the corresponding period in 2011. The net asset value (NAV) per ordinary share increased to 16.16p from 15.95p at March 31st. The cash balance at the end of the period was £10m, twice the value at the end of March 2012. Portfolio performance The group, which has a portfolio of 10 companies, reported strong revenue performance from several portfolio companies. The IMI valuation slightly reduced due to foreign exchange differences and share option dilution. Aspex sold its trade and intellectual property for anticipated ultimate proceeds of £8.5m to SPARK. OpenX doubled in value following the conclusion of funding round. Partial disposals of Kobalt & Notonthehighstreet.com raised £4.3m in cash.

AIM-listed marine and waterfront regeneration specialist Sutton Harbour posted a decline in revenue for the six months to September 30th prompting a sharp decline in its share price on Wednesday. The Plymouth-based group's interim results showed that revenue had fallen to £3.93m in the half year to September 30th from £6.06m in the corresponding period in 2011. Gross operating profit before administration costs and asset impairments fell to £1.49m from £2.74m in the corresponding period last year. Michael Knight, Chairman of Sutton Harbour, commented: "During the first half year trading has continued in line with our expectations of challenging trading conditions and we have been implementing specific strategies to build profile and to target new markets. The company has established its position as a niche real estate operator specialising in waterfront destinations and associated marine activities. We are actively pursuing our plans for the delivery of King Point Marina and marketing of berths; making progress with future ideas for "Destination Sutton Harbour" as well as the former airport site; and, managing the Sutton Harbour estate for long-term income and asset growth." The group provides berthing for 573 vessels. Its share price was down 15.71% to 29.50p at 15:48 on Wednesday afternoon.

Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI) Director name: Mr Kenneth Ford Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 11.00p Value: £11,000

Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI) Director name: Mr Kenneth Ford Amount purchased: 100,000 @ 11.00p Value: £11,000

Brammer (BRAM) Director name: Mr Steven Hodkinson Amount purchased: 7,947 @ 304.49p Value: £24,198

F&C Asset Management (FCAM) Director name: Mr Edward Bramson Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 98.60p Value: £24,650

Top Director Buys Virgin Media Inc. (VMED) Director name: Mr Steven Simmons Amount purchased: 40,000 @ 1,439.43p Value: £575,772

Joe Mescall, the Divisional Chairman of General Merchanting at Travis Perkins, sold 14,854 shares post-exercise, one day before the company warned that market headwinds have continued, although assured investors the outlook for the year as a whole remains unchanged. Mescall sold the shares at 1,098p each for a total of £163,097. The Northampton based builders merchant said on Wednesday that like-for-like sales fell 1.8% for the 11 months to the end of November 2012 while total sales for the period increased 1.6%. "This period included two more trading days in our merchanting and plumbing and heating divisions than for the comparable period in 2011," the group explained in a statement. It added that its specialist merchanting division has seen a small positive impact from the closure of a competitor. Like-for-like sales at merchanting rose 1.6%. Looking ahead Travis Perkins said: "These trends mean that our outlook for the year as a whole remains unchanged from that stated in our October interim management statement."

Mothercare: UBS raises target price from 230p to 250p and retains a sell recommendation.

Meggitt: Deutsche Bank raises target price from 425p to 445p; buy recommendation unchanged.

IG Group: UBS cuts target price from 525p to 505p; buy rating kept.