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British TV decoder maker Pace said the outlook for the remainder of the year has improved after strong demand for its next generation media server products in North America. The set-top box firm said revenue in the quarter to November 13th 2012 were in line with management expectations and ahead of last year, driven largely by the launch of and robust demand for next generation media server products in the US including the XG1 for Comcast's new X1 service and DIRECTV's Genie. Pace expects revenues in the second half of 2012 to be around $180m, up 16% from the same time the previous year. 2012 revenues are now expected to be flat on 2011 actuals with 2% underlying growth before the impact of HDD supply disruption. The group said the PayTV market continues to show resilience despite the uncertain economic conditions and previously feared disruptive threats from new over-the-top (OTT) market entrants. "Our major customers have performed well with sustained consumer demand and strong profitability," it said.

The interim dividend has been bumped up by 10% to 6.6p.

Bank recapitalisation & deleveraging, uncertainty over regulatory reform and even the London Olympics were cited by ICAP boss Michael Spencer as reasons for the inter-dealer broker's interim revenues and profits declining. Headline profit before tax in the six months to the end of September fell 26% to £137m from £186m the year before, while statutory profit before tax halved to £50m from £101m. The statutory profit figure includes acquisition & disposal costs and other exceptional items. Revenue fell 14% to £746m from £867m at the half-way point in 2011, in what the group's Chief Executive Officer, Michael Spencer, described as one of the toughest periods in his 36 year career in the wholesale financial markets. "Trading volumes this year have fallen significantly across nearly all asset classes and geographies whether equities, futures, FX [foreign exchange], commodities, fixed income and also OTC [over the counter]," Spencer said, before listing a number of reasons for this, including global economic weakness, the continuing Eurozone crisis, quantitative easing and low interest rates. "I do not believe this negative environment will continue indefinitely but equally I do not expect it to improve imminently. It has been a time to weather a hard storm and prepare thoroughly for financial regulatory reform," he declared.

Energy firm SSE said it was paying £33m to buy a bigger share in three North Sea gas fields. The agreement with oil and gas independent Perenco will see SSE increase its equity stake in the Apollo, Minerva and Mercury fields in the Southern North Sea. SEE said the deal would increase its producing gas reserves by over 200m therms over the life of the fields. It added the move reflected the company's "growing confidence and expertise in owning producing gas assets". The firm currently has a 35% equity interest in Apollo and Minerva, and a 26.67% equity interest in Mercury. As a result of this deal SSE's equity interest in all three fields will increase to 50% with Perenco holding the other half and acting as operator. The news came as the utility business announced a 38% jump in profits in the first half.

SIG has maintained its strong financial position and remains on track to meet its target of around 1x leverage at the year end. Looking forward, the company believes it is on track to meet full year expectations.

Building materials distributor SIG has said that trading since July 1st has been in line with expectations, with the overall gross margin remaining ahead of the same period last year. However, the company continues to expect the rate of improvement for the full year to be lower than the 50 basis point increase reported in the first half and said that, as expected, market volumes have declined slightly throughout the year. Sales per day from continuing operations for the ten months to the end of October were flat on a constant currency basis, while sterling sales per day declined by around 4% compared to the prior year, due to exchange rate movements. In the year-to-date, sales per day in mainland Europe grew by about 2% in constant currency, but dropped by around 6% in sterling. Benelux and France showed the strongest progress, while Germany was marginally lower. In the UK & Ireland sales per day from continuing operations fell by about 2% in constant currency, with the UK down by around 1%. "Following some improvement in constant currency sales per day in Q3 compared to Q2 on a year-on-year basis, October was slightly negative, meaning that July to October was flat compared with prior year," the group said.

His counterpart at AG Barr, Ronald Hanna, said: "The new business will enjoy significant growth potential in all sectors of the market through diversified and enhanced routes to market and the potential of increased international exposure. With a clear strategy, strong management team and tight financial control, the union of our two businesses will create real future potential." Comment Britvic, head-quartered in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, had been considered to be "in play" after declining sales trends were exacerbated by the recall of its Robinson's Fruit Shoot product in July, after the company became concerned that the new bottle design might prove a choking hazard. Its smaller Scottish rival has been more sure footed of late. Famous for its Irn Bru - the only fizzy soft drinks brand in the world to outsell Coca Cola in one national market (Scotland) - the eye-catching growth in recent years has come from the fruit juice side of the business. With Britvic's partner, Pepsi, on board with the idea, the merger of the two looks like a logical combination, and makes a pleasant change from iconic British brands passing into the hands of forked-tongued overseas operators, though that comment may need revising if Scotland votes to leave the United Kingdom ...

The directors have identified recurring annual cost synergies of around £35m through combining the two companies. These savings will be achieved through overhead savings, procurement savings and supply chain enhancements. In addition to these cost synergies, the boards of AG Barr and Britvic believe that the merger will provide an opportunity to achieve a contribution of at least £5m from annual net revenue synergies through using the combined distribution channels, brand portfolios and geographic presence of the combined group. The directors expect to build up aggregate full run rate synergies of £40m by 2016. The combined group will have a formidable portfolio of brands, including Irn-Bru, Robinsons, Fruit Shoot and J20 while Britvic also enjoys a strong relationship with US soft drinks leviathan, Pepsi Cola; Pepsi has given the thumbs-up to the merger. AG Barr and Britvic both intend to pay dividends in respect of the period up to the date the merger becomes effective, with AG Barr lobbing out a second interim dividend of 7.4p per share to be paid to shareholders on the register on January 4th 2013 and Britvic paying a second interim dividend of 12.4p in lieu of the final dividend for the financial year ended September 30th, 2012. "AG Barr and Britvic are a fantastic fit with complementary strengths in products, channels and geographies and we will benefit from very significant synergies. Together we will create a bigger, better and stronger business for our consumers, customers and shareholders for now and the future," declared Gerald Corbett, Britvic's non-executive Chairman.

J20 and Irn-Bru sounds like a disgusting combination and hopefully J20 maker Britvic and Irn-Bru maker AG Barr won't market a cocktail of the pair now the two giants of the UK soft drinks industry have agreed on a merger. Under the terms of the merger, which has been brewing for at least two months, Britvic shareholders will receive 0.816 AG Barr shares for every Britvic share held. Assuming the merger goes through, Britvic shareholders will end up controlling 63% of the combined company and AG Barr shareholders 37%, but the Barr name gets top billing in the new name of the group, which will be Barr Britvic Soft Drinks. As for the divvying up of management positions, AG Barr's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Roger White, will hold the same position in the combined group, while John Gibney, currently CEO of Britvic, will be Chief Financial officer of the combined group. Gerald Corbett, the current Britvic non-executive Chairman, will become the non-executive Chairman of the combined group, while Ronald Hanna, the current Chairman of AG Barr will be his deputy. The combined entity's board will also include a further six non-executive directors, three nominated from each of AG Barr's and Britvic's boards.

Broker comment Liberum Capital commented: "The shares have been the strongest performers in our coverage universe year to date (+43.1%) but still trade on the narrowest premium of the central London specialists at 8.9% to the net asset value announced this morning. We expect its West End portfolio to continue to outperform the wider market and reiterate our 'buy' rating."........BUT AS ALWAYS DYOR GL ALL...

"Conditions in our central London market remain supportive. Although the rate of leasing was below the long run average around the time of the Olympics, we are witnessing a solid pick-up in demand from prospective occupiers, particularly in the West End. "We maintain our confident outlook; our portfolio, 100% in central London, is rich with asset management and development opportunity and is well positioned for further growth; our conservative gearing and low cost firepower, expected to be supplemented by the placing announced this morning, will enable us to deliver on our existing growth plans and exploit new opportunities as we find them."

Rental values grew 2% (2.4% West End offices, 2.7% West End retail), with an acceleration in the second quarter (1.1% versus 0.9% in the first quarter). Net asset value per share was up 5.2% to 424p. After a revaluation surplus, reported profit before tax was £76.7m (2011: £79.1m), with the interim dividend per share increased 3.1% to 3.3p. Including non-recourse debt in the joint ventures, total net debt was £814.6m (March 31st 2012: £686.9m) equivalent to a loan to value ratio of 37.7% at September 30th 2012 (March 31st 2012: 34.2%). Toby Courtauld, Chief Executive, said: "We are pleased to report a strong start to this financial year, and another period of outperformance of the London commercial property market; we have delivered material surpluses from our development programme, further attractive acquisitions in the West End, profitable disposals and numerous lettings ahead of market rates.

On the back of solid interim results Great Portland Estates (GPE) has said it is looking to raise significant funding to enable it to make further acquisitions in London's West End. The property company plans to raise around £140m via a proposed placing of up to 31.25m shares. A spokesperson was coy about the proposed issue price as the book has not yet been built, but it is likely to be at a discount to yesterday's closing price of 459.3p, given the dilutive effect of the placing (9.99% of the current issued share capital). The funds will be used to top up a war chest of £400m in cash and undrawn credit facilities that will be used to buy property in central London. It is already in detailed discussions about three such property purchases costing about £110m, and a further three are in detailed analysis. Interim resultsFor the six months ended September 30th, GPE delivered a total property return of 12.8%, outperforming IPD's central London benchmark of 9.6%, driven by a capital return of 9.6% against 5.1% for the IPD central London. The IPD (Investment Property Databank) provides benchmarking and portfolio analysis services across the globe.

Speciality chemicals producer AZ Electronic Materials has announced the retirement of Mike Douglas, the Managing Director of the group's IC Materials division. Douglas will leave the company on December 31st and will be replaced by Dr Rico Wiedenbruch, who is currently the Managing Director of the group's Optronics division. Replacing Wiedenbruch will be Anand Nambiar, AZ's Head of Group Operations since July 2010. The company stressed that Douglas "will continue to support the organisation through to the year-end and will facilitate the transition to his successor".

FTSE 250 Edinburgh Investment Trust, which invests primarily in UK securities, said net asset value (NAV) increased more than the FTSE All-Share Index. NAV with debt at market value rose by 3% on a total return basis compared with a 1.9% rise in the FTSE index. Chairman Jim Pettigrew commented: "The ongoing difficult macroeconomic environment continued to present challenges for financial markets during the period. There have been no changes to the company's investment approach and its portfolio has delivered investment out-performance against benchmark in the 6 month period to September 30th 2012." The interim dividend of 5p will be paid on November 30th 2012, unchanged from last year. Looking ahead Pettigrew added: "Economic growth in the western world remains anaemic at best. Furthermore, growth in China showed signs of further slowdown in quarter three. "Although there has been a recent rally in European Bond markets following the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi's pledge to 'do whatever it takes' to preserve the Euro, this in itself does not resolve the fundamental issues facing Europe." Pettigrew said the company's investment strategy remains the same and as already highlighted, the concentrated nature of the portfolio may from time to time give rise to material short-term under-performance against benchmark. However, the group believes its investment portfolio from a medium to longer term perspective, has been built with stocks which should be resilient in difficult times, whilst still providing potential upside in more positive market environments.

"In an environment where coking coal prices are 30% down year-on-year, our focus will remain on cost containment and watchful management of capital spending in order to ensure we are well positioned for the future," said Executive Director, Marek Jelinek. "Although economic growth in key emerging markets such as China or India has moderated, they remain robust as these countries progress with continuing investment in urbanisation, which underpins an improving sentiment towards raw materials for steel production in general," he added.

New World Resources saw a big drop in revenues and profits over the first nine months of the year as it was hit by floundering demand in steel markets. Revenues dropped 18% to €1.01bn with pre-tax profits coming in at €67.5m, down 59% on the previous year's figure. In the third quarter revenue was down 21% to €318.7m, while profits slumped 58% to €19.1m. The the Czech Republic-focused miner said steel production in Central and Eastern Europe had remained relatively resilient, but demand for steel products has deteriorated, particularly in the car industry in Western Europe. This forced some steel mills and foundries in its core markets to continue operating at reduced levels. This weakness in the steel industry was having a knock-on effect on steelmaking input raw materials including coking coal, New World said. This was reflected in pricing for the final quarter of 2012, with blended coking coal contracts at €102 per tonne, down 20% on the previous quarter. The firm's average coke price was down 8% on the third quarter at €264 per tonne.

New business in the UK and the US overshadowed growth in Asia, for once, at insurance giant Prudential in the third quarter. Sales on an annualised premium equivalent (APE) basis in the third quarter rose 19% to £1,048m from £880m a year earlier. Sales in Asia rose 6% to £429m in the third quarter, but growth picked up after the end of the reporting period, with APE growth of 165 year-on-year. UK sales jumped 28% to £205m, a growth rate only marginally behind the 31% increase in US sales to £414m. Total group new business profit rose 28% to £597m from £466m the year before. Asia's new business profit was up 11% to £281m from £254m. The US grew its new business profit by 47% to £241m while the UK upped its game by 56% to £75m. The group's asset management operations, spearheaded by M&G, are going gang-busters, with net inflows in the first nine months of the year of £12.3bn. Of those net inflows, £7.0bn came in the third quarter alone, with M&G accounting for £6.4bn. "This is our best ever performance at the nine month stage surpassing the historically high level of net inflows achieved in 2009," revealed Group Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam.

As for the 46% owned Virgin Mobile France JV, this saw revenue grow 9.2% on a constant currency basis. EBIT of £8.1m, up from £8.0m a year earlier, was in line with expectations. Full year guidance of a broadly unchanged EBIT (in euros) remains unchanged. "We have substantially increased our market share of UK post-pay volumes and, while the pre-pay market remains weak, we hope for an improvement in the second half as the product pipeline continues to broaden," said Roger Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Carphone Warehouse. "In Continental Europe, we have also been exploring growth opportunities for the business through potentially long-term strategic partnerships. Virgin Mobile France has grown its revenue and post-pay customer base, despite intense competition, and is starting to benefit as it moves its customers onto its Full MVNO [mobile virtual network operator] infrastructure," he added.

Mobile phones retailer Carphone Warehouse has reiterated full year earnings guidance after a first half in which it gained market share in the UK post-pay market. Headline profit before tax, which excludes contributions from discontinued businesses and one-off items, rose to £8.6m in the six months to the end of September from a restated £6.6m the year before. Statutory profit before tax jumped to £8.3m from £5.3m the year before. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased by half to 1.5p from a penny a year earlier. Headline EPS rose 20% to 1.6p from 1.3p the year before. The group has reiterated its full year EPS guidance range of 11.5p to 13.0p. The company is dipping into its reserves to fund an unchanged interim dividend of 1.75p. The 50% owned CPW Europe joint venture (JV) saw first half revenues up 1.6% on a like-for-like basis, with LFL revenues in the second quarter up 5.0%. Headline earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of £12.5m was down from £2.0.0m the year before, but ahead of guidance. Much of the fall was attributed to a weak pre-pay market. The group is sticking with its full year EBIT guidance range of £130m - £150m for the JV.