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Shell expects global natural gas demand to increase by 60% from 2010 to 2030, reaching 25% of the global primary energy mix and within that, strong growth in liquefied natural gas (LNG). The company told investors that demand for LNG has doubled to 200m tonnes per annum (tpa) between 2000 and 2010, and expects this to double to 400m tpa by 2020, and as much as 500m tpa five years later. "Meeting this demand growth will require substantial industry investment - potentially more than $700bn - and continued innovation and interdependency between supplier and customer countries," the group continued. "Shell has 22m tpa of LNG on stream today, and is building 7m tpa of new LNG capacity in Australia that will increase Shell production by 30%. In addition, the company is maturing over 20 mtpa of further LNG options, in Australia, Indonesia and North America, that should drive Shell's LNG leadership into the next decade. "For the longer term, Shell has gas-focused exploration programmes in exciting acreage positions such as China, South Africa and Ukraine, which have large scale resources potential, and is assessing over 5m tpa of LNG to transport opportunities world-wide. Voser ended his speech with a firm message: "There is more to come from Shell"

Oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, on Wednesday revealed its global gas strategy, saying that global primary demand could double to 400m barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the first half of the 21st century. In 2000 this figure stood at 200m boepd and last year totalled 270m boepd. Speaking at a management day with investors, Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser outlined the group's gloabal gas strategy: "Strong growth in gas markets, especially Integrated Gas, is a major opportunity for Shell and our shareholders. Our Integrated Gas earnings have more than trebled in the last five years, reaching $9bn over the last year, driven by liquefied natural gas and gas-to-liquids, and we see growth opportunities to invest over $20bn here for 2012-15. "We are aiming to develop profitable new gas supplies to meet the market's growing demand for clean and affordable low carbon energy. This plays to Shell's technology and financial strength." The company also said that around two thirds of energy consumption in 2030 could be driven by countries which are not signed to the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), compared to the current level of 56%.

Ocean Wilsons Holdings said its Brazilian subsidiary had secured money to build 12 new tugboats for its fleet. The firm said its subsidiary, Saveiros Camuyrano Serviços Marítimos, had signed up for $135m of financing from Banco do Brasil. The 12 tugboats, which are to be fitted with azimuth thrusters, will be built in Wilson Sons' shipyard and are expected to be delivered by the end of 2016. "This is part of the company's strategy to increase and renew its fleet in order to meet the demand driven by growth in the oil and gas industry and international trade flow," the firm said. The move would "ensure competitiveness in the expansion of our towage operations", it added.

Top Director Sells Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) Director name: Dr D Mark Bristow Amount sold: 45,000 @ 6,799.00p Value: £3,059,550

Cape (CIU) Director name: Mr Leslie Van de Walle Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 181.20p Value: £18,120

Ocean Wilsons Holdings Ltd. (OCN) Director name: Mr Chris Townsend Amount purchased: 2,500 @ 973.00p Value: £24,325

Fidessa Group (FDSA) Director name: Mr John Hamer Amount purchased: 2,500 @ 1,273.80p Value: £31,845

First Derivatives (FDP) Director name: Mr Keith MacDonald Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 535.00p Value: £53,500

Admiral Group (ADM) Director name: Mr John Sussens Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 1,081.00p Value: £108,100

Chemring Group (CHG) Director name: Mr Mark Papworth Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 225.25p Value: £112,625 Chemring Group (CHG) Director name: Mr Peter Hickson Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 223.71p Value: £111,855

Top Director Buys Fidessa Group (FDSA) Director name: Mr Chris Aspinwall Amount purchased: 10,441 @ 1,273.80p Value: £132,997

Production of 204,475 ounces of gold was down from the second quarter's 210,534 ounces but up from 182,362 ounces in the corresponding period of 2011. The total cash cost per ounce was $737, up from $703 in the preceding quarter but down from $747 the year before. Bristow described the results as a mixed bag, but with the good far outweighing the bad. "Production and costs for the final quarter are forecast to again show significant improvements," he said at the time. In the past 12 months the company's shares have plunged 825p, equal to 11%. In the past week alone shares have lost over 5%, equal to 375p, of their value.

Electrical retailer Darty, formerly Kesa Electricals, found trading tough in the first half and expects market conditions to remain challenging, although it expects to benefit from weaker comparatives in the second half. In a trading update for the period from May 1st to October 31st the company, which is without a Chief Executive following his resignation after a shareholder revolt over directors' pay, said that total revenues fell by 2.2% in euros, 2.3% in local currency and by 1.7% on a like-for-like basis. The worst performing business was Darty France, where revenues dropped 3.9%, while its developing businesses (Darty Italy, Darty Turkey and Darty Spain) also saw revenues fall 2.6%. In contrast, its established businesses (BCC, Vanden Borre and Datart) grew revenues by 3.7%. Given that gross margin was also down 100 basis points, albeit "with an improved trend in the second quarter", it will certainly require a strong second half to avoid further disappointment for Kesa's long-suffering shareholders. It will issue its half year results on Wednesday, December 12th.

Diagnostics and genetic analysis business Source BioScience said a good performance in the third quarter meant it was on track to meet full year expectations. The company said the three months to the end of September had been a period of sustained growth and development with increased revenue in both its LifeSciences and Healthcare divisions. The performance was underpinned by growth in the firm's cytology business (which studies cell structure), driven by the adoption of automated imaging for cervical cancer screening. The LifeSciences division also took increasing market share for DNA sequencing in the UK. Source said it was in a robust financial position with £2m cash as of September 30th, up from £1.8m at the end of June.

Cake and bread maker Finsbury Food Group said it had raised almost four million pounds to fund the company's UK cake business. The firm said a placing of around 10.4m new shares at 38p each had raised £3.9m before expenses. It plans to use the proceeds to develop the product portfolio capability at its cake business using new technology and automation. It will also improve production efficiencies, thus reducing the cost of manufacturing. "Projects will be implemented in a phased fashion over the course of the next two years to avoid any exceptional charges," the statement said. "The directors of the company believe the planned investment will deliver a final annualised benefit of some £2m.

Training firm Wilmington Group said that since the start of July trading had been in line with expectations. The firm said its Banking & Compliance and Pensions & Insurance businesses had both delivered good revenue growth. Its Legal division saw revenues fall compared to 2011, but the company said this was expected, having reduced events and sold its Company Formation business in June. Reported revenue to date in Healthcare were also down on 2012 due to a weakening in the Euro exchange rate, Wilmington said. However, the firm noted good growth in profits and operating margins across all the business divisions except, as expected, Business Intelligence. The Legal division in particular enjoyed strong margin and profit growth reflecting the successful restructuring last year, it said.

Events firm and trade publisher Centaur Media said it had seen significant improvement in revenues and cost base at the start of its 2012/13 financial year. The firm reported revenues across the group ware up by 14% in the period with EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margins benefitting from recent restructuring initiatives. Digital and events revenues accounted for 38% and 30% of total revenues in the period, up from 32% and 22% in the same period last year. Across the Business Publishing division marketing, legal and financial communities continue to see weakness in advertising revenues. However, its the HR and engineering 'communities' reported good rates of underlying growth. The outlook across Business Publishing for the seasonally stronger second half of the financial year remained relatively uncertain for the Group's advertising-led products, Centaur said. "Whilst trading conditions remain challenging in some markets, we are well placed to deliver further growth in 2013 and continue to make good progress towards our medium-term targets," said Chief Executive Geoff Wilmot. "We anticipate trading to be in line with our expectations for the current financial year."

Safestore Holdings, the provider of self-storage in the UK and France, said it had performed in line with expectations in the last year. The firm said revenues were up 4% to £98.8m and it had let 3.29m square feet of space, up 2.4% up on last year's record level. However, it said attempts to pass on a recent hike in VAT on storage in the UK had resulted in higher numbers of people vacating their storage and lower levels of new business. "While it will take more than one month's data to fully assess the impact on our business, early indications suggest that it remains in line with previous guidance," the company said. Total revenue in the UK for the fourth quarter was up 2.7% compared to the previous year, the trading update said. At the end of the year occupancy across all stores in the UK was 2.54m sq ft., up 1.6% on the year before. Trading in Paris remained resilient, which the firm said was down to its strong competitive position amid the challenges of the Eurozone economy. Total French revenue for the fourth quarter was up 4.3% over the prior year in constant exchange rates, but down 4.7% in Sterling, reflecting the significant year on year fall in the Euro. Closing occupancy was 71.6% at the end of October, down from 75.2% in 2011 owing to the opening of new stores added late in the year.

Risk management firm Red24 hailed a strong first half driven by sales of its food safety products. Overall revenue increased by over 15% to £3.34m from £2,89m, while profit before tax increased by 6.7% to £440,000 from £412,000. The bulk of this growth came from 'red24 assist', the firm's food safety product, which was launched in the autumn of 2011 and generated £433,000 of revenue in the half year. Profit before tax of was up to £440,000 from £412,00 in the first half of 2011, while earnings per share came in at 0.75p , up from 0.73p the year before. Red24 raised its dividend by 25% to 0.40p, which the firm noted was over four times covered by 2011 earnings. Chairman Simon Richards said the impact on the firm of governmental budgetary cutbacks in the UK was unlikely to be material, but the outlook for the US dollar could have a negative impact.

The Innovation Group, which provides business services and software solutions to the insurance, fleet, automotive and property industries, has scored a new US contract for its Insurer Claims and Insurer Analytics software. The deal was signed with a tier two insurer and is worth around £2.75m ($4.4m), of which £2.0m ($3.2m) will be recognised as licence and implementation revenue in the current 2013 financial year with the remaining sum attributable to a five year maintenance contract. Under the terms of the agreement, which begins immediately, the customer will use the Insurer Claims solution to support its multiple channels. Insurer Analytics will provide it with business intelligence, dashboard reporting, and real-time analytics to assist it in managing the business. Andy Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of The Innovation Group, said: "I am extremely pleased to welcome this business to our customer base in the US. This customer is an innovative US insurer and we're proud to be working with such a dynamic team. Today's agreement further underpins the robust, flexible, and end-to-end claims management capabilities of our Insurer Suite."