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At the end of October, net debt was £33.7m, compared to £16.7m at the end of June. "Although trading remains volatile, the sales momentum we have seen in October and early November offers support for the remainder of 2012 and consequently the board's expectations for the year to December 31st 2012 are unchanged," the group said.

Bodycote, the world's largest thermal processing services provider, has reported revenue growth of 2.9 per cent in the four months to the end of October compared to the same period the previous year. At constant currency rates (CER), this rose to 7.6%. Sales in the Aerospace, Defence and Energy business were ahead by 14.4% (15.9% at CER), with organic growth at 10.4% and acquisitions adding 5.5%. In Western Europe, CER sales improved by 14.2%, all of which was organic, while in North America, revenues, at CER, grew 17.5% of which organic growth accounted for 7.1% and acquisitions 10.4%. Further growth was seen in revenues from the commercial aerospace sector, while the defence sector remained stable. Sales into oil and gas customers continued to improve while industrial gas turbine demand was good in North America, but remained subdued in Europe. In the Automotive and General Industrial business, revenues were lower by 5.2%, but at CER were ahead 1.8%, with organic sales lower by 2.9%. Sales from Western Europe fell 2.9%, compared to North America where organic revenues at CER climbed 6.5% and acquisitions added a further 32.2%. Emerging market revenues were weak in all territories.

"The challenge will be to convince that vitamin brands are as strong as OTC brands (some are clearly commodities like vitamin C, others Reckitt believe aren't.)" Reckitt Benckiser expects to close the tender offer before year end, assuming prompt due diligence, with the looming increase in US taxation on capital gains being a factor to watch. Lastly, the company indicates that it is prepared to sign a merger agreement substantially similar to the one Schiff currently has with Bayer. "Reckitt Benckiser looks forward to engaging with Schiff's Board and is confident that they will recognize it as a superior proposal," it concludes.

However, although the US outfit's revenues are expected to increase sharply in the year ended in May 2013 (to $374.33m from $251.65m), according to the consensus estimates compiled by FactSet Schiff's sales growth rate is expected to slow down in the year afterwards, with revenues seen rising to $415.97m. Nevertheless, the company enjoys very respectable gross margins, of approximately 46%, which are far better than the 37% sector average. Also worth pointing out, according to Bloomberg deals in this area have averaged 17 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) over the last 5 years or 3 times sales. In any case, shares of Schiff would now seem to be rather fully valued. Commenting on all of the above, analysts at Credit Suisse had this to say: "Vitamins represents a new market for Reckitt, and one the previous management was reluctant to explore. The deal (if successful) is not large in size (6 months' free cash flow), but as a statement of intention/direction it is rather more significant. It is consistent with the move to Health/Hygiene as detailed in the February investor presentation.

Slough based consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser has launched a 1.4bn-dollar (882m-pound) non-solicited counterbid for US nutrition specialist Schiff Nutrition International, with the tender offer beginning today. At $44 per share that represents 27% more than German conglomerate Bayer's own £693m ($1.1bn) offer announced last month and a 24% premium over the closing price of Schiff's shares last night. Shares of Schiff finished yesterday's session at $33.92 dollars, but at one point rose as high as $44.19 in after-hours trading, which may indicate that some thought another offer from Bayer was still possible. Rakesh Kapoor, Reckitt Benckiser Chief Executive Officer, highlighted that this acquisition would provide a powerful entryway into the large and rapidly growing $30bn global vitamins, minerals and supplements (VMS) market. Similarly, the company believes that the purchase would give it immediate scale in VMS in the USA. While by some accounts Reckitt Benckiser has a good track-record as regards its acquisitions, yesterday's offer price implied paying what at first glance is a rather lofty 5.41 times estimated 2012 sales and 3.74 times analysts' sales forecasts for the year ending in May 2013.

In addition to the ACP, clearances have also been received from the Spanish competition authority, CNC. The competition authorities in the UK and Portugal are continuing to review the proposed transaction with decisions from the UK Office of Fair Trading and Portuguese competition authority expected before the end of 2012. The LSE also said that it continues to discuss how to deal with the possible need to provide increased capital for LCH.Clearnet.

The London Stock Exchange has produced a mediocre set of interims although it is making progress on its deal to buy clearing house LCH.Clearnet, with approval received from the French lead regulator. Pre-tax profits were down by almost 8% at £165.4m (H1 2012: £179.7m) although total income was up 10% at £423.7m (H1 2012:£386.5m), with revenues for the first half ended September 30th increasing 7% to £349.8m (H1 2012: £328.1m). The main reason for the drop in profitability appears to be an increase in expenses, which rose from £174.5m a year earlier to £206.5m, driven by higher costs for sales, employees and miscellaneous items. Amortisation of purchased intangible assets also rose from £20m a year earlier, to £44.6m. Although as a non-cash item it won't affect cashflow. Concerning the deal to acquire up to 60% of LCH.Clearnet, the LSE has made progress in navigating the regulatory and anti-trust red tape, with approval received from the French lead regulator, ACP.

At the end of October the order book stood at £190.8m, 16.5% higher than the same point last year. Divisionally, Rotork Control's cumulative order intake at the end of October was 8.3% up on the same period last year, and said a number of markets are performing well with Russia, North America and Australia delivering particularly strong results. Rotork Fluid Systems was the fastest growing division and order intake in the third quarter was 47.2% higher than the same period last year. Cumulative order intake to October 28th was up 32.7% on the prior year. Cumulative order intake to the end of October in the Rotork Gears business was 22.4% ahead of the prior year. The company added: "Based on the strong performance year to date, our record order book and diverse end market exposure, the board continues to expect further progress in the full year, with margins slightly lower than those seen in 2011."

Valve engineering group Rotork has reported a strong period of order intake since the start of July, with the third quarter at record levels and 24.9 per cent higher than the prior year. Revenues were 9.9% up on the previous year, while cumulative revenue to October 28th was 17% ahead of the same period in 2011. "As last year, we anticipate a strong fourth quarter in terms of revenue as projects are delivered out of the order book," the firm said. "Due to our continued success on major international projects, we have a greater proportion than normal of our current order book due to be delivered over a longer time frame, with deliveries in 2013 and, in a number of cases, in 2014. "The group continues to generate industry leading margins and we anticipate these will be higher in the second half than the first half, with full year margins slightly lower than the prior year. Operational gearing has been beneficial, however changes in divisional mix, with the record performance of Fluid Systems, and costs related to the introduction of a number of new products have reduced group margins."

Looking beyond Thailand, further production growth will be delivered from the Kerendan field in Indonesia. The DrillCo-1 rig arrived on location in August and is currently batch-drilling three development wells. On completion of the development drilling, the group expects to be in a position to commercialise up to 160bn cubic feet of additional resource; this volume is above and beyond the 120bn cubic feet of proved plus probable (2P) reserves that are already the subject of a gas sales agreement with PLN, Indonesia's state-owned electricity company. At the end of October total debt, including the group's $100m convertible bond, was $270.8m, while total available funds were $114.2m; net debt (including the convertible bond) was $156.7m, up from $82.5m at the end of June.

Salamander Energy, the oil and gas firm focused on Asia, continues to crank up output in Thailand and has identified plenty more prospects in the area. Average daily production for the year up to November 15th was 10,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), while average production during November has risen to 11,700 boepd. That means the company should comfortably hit its full year production forecast of between 10,500 and 11,500 boepd. Initial analysis of three-dimensional seismic data covering the Greater Bualang area in Thailand has identified more than 20 prospects for Salamander to get fired up about. These prospects lie within the 20m to 80m barrels of oil range, with the chances of success expected to be around the 30% level once the prospects are matured. Salamander said a number of these prospects are ready to be drilled, and it expects to spud a minimum of six exploration wells on this acreage in 2013. The group revealed that it has now received environmental permits for six locations in the northern part of the licence area, while in the southern area of the G4/50 licence, applications for environmental permits are at an advanced stage with all documentation expected to be submitted around year-end.

Industrial property specialist Hansteen's key indicators have all been heading in the right direction in the second half of the year. Cash flow has been strong, with normalised income profit continuing to grow in line with the board's expectations, while absolute and like-for-like occupancy and rental income on the wholly owned portfolio have all improved. The group said the industrial property market is starting to unclog, particularly in Germany, enabling the group to get shot of 13 properties in the second half of 2012, raising £17.8m. That money and more has been recycled into £26.4m of property acquisitions with a combined annual rent of £2.4m. So far, these acquisitions are performing in-line with, or better than, Hansteen's projections at the time of acquisition. In addition, the group has committed £13.6m to two substantial pre-let developments in Germany which will, on completion, produce running yields of around 10%, from strong tenants on long leases. "We are seeing an increasing number of interesting acquisition opportunities in all of our core regions. Acquisition opportunities in this market take a long time to conclude and are often complex but there has recently been a noticeable increase in such discussions in all of our geographic regions and in several situations we are in detailed due diligence albeit this is no guarantee that a deal will be consummated," the company's interim management statement said. "The portfolio and the business should continue to generate high and growing returns over the next few years which is expected to manifest itself in a progressive, but prudent, dividend distribution," the company added.

Credit Suisse has updated its coverage of Spanish pharmaceutical company Almirall, reiterating an 'outperform' rating and a stock price target of eight euros. Analysts at the Swiss bank said that Almirall's nine-month sales were broadly in line but EBIT (earnings before income tax) were 25% above their forecasts. They highlighted that the company reiterated its own sales and earnings forecast for 2012. However, Credit Suisse cut its 2013 EPS (earnings per share) forecast by 28%, saying that it expects considerable SG&A (Selling, General and Administrative) spending ahead of two imminent drug launches. "Given the necessary launch investments in the face of sustained domestic austerity, 2013 was always likely to be the trough year for Almirall. Execution is now key. With Eklira and linaclotide de-risked from a regulatory perspective, we continue to believe growth can return from 2014," the broker said. As positive catalysts, Credit Suisse identifies "the EU and US launch progress of aclidinium following recent approvals and EU launch of linaclotide." Shares of Almirall were up 0.44% to €6.87 in early afternoon trading in Madrid

"Our leading positions in mobile betting are positively impacting online turnover growth and sportsbook gross win percentages. In October, mobile turnover as a percentage of total online sportsbook stakes was 27% in Australia (June: 25%) and 45% in paddypower.com (June: 41%). The most rapid mobile penetration continues to occur in gaming with mobile gross win in October accounting for 28% of Paddy Power Casino (June: 19%) and 25% of Paddy Power Games (June: 20%)."

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has said that overall, its performance between the start of July and mid-November has been in line with expectations, with strong growth in net revenue of 23 per cent and continued significant investment. The paddypower.com website maintained good momentum, with turnover increasing by 28% against the same period the previous year. Activity levels outside of Australia were moderated by a number of factors, including weather related racing cancellations and the Olympics. However, this was offset by favourable sports results which resulted in a gross win percentage above our normal expectations and the equivalent period last year. UK Retailed delivered a solid performance in a competitive high-street environment, with like-for-like net revenue up 5%, driven by strong sportsbook growth of 12%, offsetting a decline in machine gaming of 4%. Irish Retail also performed positively with like-for-like stakes up 0.4% and net revenue up 8%. Online turnover in Australia rose 24% compared to the same period the previous year, and while gaming/B2B net revenue growth slowed during August and September, it returned to strong growth in October and grew by 14% in the period overall. "We now expect to open up to 45 new shops in the UK in 2012," the firm said. "We also continued to progress our portfolio of newer online businesses and to invest in exploring other development opportunities to contribute to longer term growth.

Shareholders of cruise operator Carnival are in for an additional payout of 50 US cents per share in December, in a move to return excess cash back to investors. Carnival will pay a special dividend of $0.50 per share on December 28th, as well as the previously announced regular quarterly payout of $0.25 per share already scheduled for December 14th. The stock, which was swinging between gains and losses on Friday morning, was lifted into positive territory by the news and was trading up 1.23% at 2,461p in afternoon trade. "This additional dividend is in keeping with our previously stated strategy of returning excess free cash flow to shareholders," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Micky Arison. "Looking forward, we remain committed to increasing shareholder returns through a combination of dividend distributions and opportune share repurchases," he said.

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