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Kentz, the FTSE 250 engineering and construction group, has been awarded an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the 75MWp Kalkbult Solar Photovoltaic project in the Northern Cape area of South Africa. The project is scheduled for completion in January 2014, a forms a key part of the first phase of the South African Department of Energy's 3,725MW Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme. The in-country EPC activities associated with the facility will be the responsibility of Kentz. Christian Brown, Chief Executive of Kentz Group, said: "We continue to develop our EPC capabilities in the African region and this prestigious project for Scatec Solar demonstrates our ability to secure a wide range of EPC contracts. "Additionally, the award of such a key project for South African renewable energy will position us to contribute to the development of further renewable energy projects across the continent and beyond."

OML 30 is one of the largest onshore licences in the country, with eight producing fields and estimated gross proved and probable reserves of 1,114m barrels of oil. Current production is around 35,000 barrels of per day. The economic valuation of proved plus probable reserves estimated by $3,089m and $3,789m.

Property company London and Stamford Property is to merge with rival trust Metric in a deal that will leave it with three quarters of the enlarged company. Under the terms of the merger, Metric shareholders will be entitled to receive 0.94 new ordinary shares for each Metric ordinary share, resulting in them owning 25%. London & Stamford also said that following completion of the merger it intended to return £100m to shareholders of the company. The announcement came the firm announced a 30% increase in underlying trading profit to £14.6m in the six months to the end of September, compared to the previous period. Executive Chairman Raymond Mould said he was convinced the deal flow was increasing and that the quality of opportunities is high. "The spread between initial yields on current opportunities and the cost of debt provides the potential for double digit cash on cash yields which can contribute to an increasing level of dividend cover and ultimately dividend growth," he said.

Drinks behemoth Diageo is to spend over one billion pounds taking a majority stake in Indian spirits firm USL. The firm will initially pay 660 million pounds for a 27.4% stake in USL, the biggest spirits company in India. This deal will trigger an obligation on Diageo to launch a mandatory tender offer to the public shareholders of USL. Consequently Diageo has also announced that it will launch a tender offer to acquire a maximum of 37,785,214 shares, which equates to 26% of USL's shares. When the deal is complete Diageo will hold 53.4% of USL at an aggregate cost of around £1.29bn. Paul S Walsh, Chief Executive of Diageo, said growth in the Indian market was being driven by the increasing number of middle class consumers looking to buy premium and prestige local spirits brands as income levels rise. "The combination of USL's strong business with the capabilities which Diageo brings as the world's leading premium drinks company will ensure that USL continues to lead the industry in India," he said.

The firm said that while full-year results are second-half weighted and its Wireless businesses continue to operate with short sales pipeline visibility, trends in the first half give it confidence to meet expectations this year. Net cash at the end of October was more or less flat compared with the start of the year at £16.8m, up from £12.6m last October. Investec doesn't see step up in consensus forecasts Analyst James Goodman from Investec said that the trading update was positive and the growth in Handset Testing was a good result given "the very tough 1Q12 comparative". However, it lacks a material upgrade at this stage, he said. Whilst the broker is likely to raised its full-year profit forecast by around 5%, Goodman said that there is "unlikely to be a major step up in consensus at this stage". "The outlook is positive and we consider a more material upgrade is quite likely at the H1 results. We keep our 'buy' [rating] ahead of this."

Software group Anite saw shares fall on Friday morning despite saying that revenues and profits have been in line with expectations in the first half. The group, which provides software solution to wireless and leisure travel industries, say that trading conditions in the six months to October 31st have been "encouraging", with revenue and adjusted operating profits ahead of last year. However, Anite did highlight that it was affected by a struggling euro during the period: translation of underlying euro-denominated results in Network Testing back into sterling was disrupted by a 9% weakening in the single currency compared with last year. Nevertheless, in underlying constant currency terms, Network Testing saw profits rise on flat revenues. In Handset Testing, year-on-year revenue and profit growth was "healthy" and in the double-digit range in spite of exceptionally strong comparatives last year. Meanwhile, Travel saw an "encouraging, albeit small" improvement in trading. "The group has had a good first half," said Chief Executive Officer Christopher Humphery.

Character Group, a toys and games company, has issued a profits warning for the financial year ending August 31st 2013. It said: "Whilst sales in September were on budget, October sales showed a steep decline. The group now considers that it will fall materially short of its budgeted sales to Christmas and therefore will not be in a position to achieve the market forecasts for the financial year ending August 31st 2013." It added: "although we are now expecting the first half results of the current financial year to be disappointing, we remain optimistic that overall, with Character's stable of established branded ranges and stronger new product line up, supported by encouraging initial reactions and feedback from our customers both domestically and internationally, trading will generate stronger sales in the 2013 calendar year as a whole and provide a much improved trading position as we move into the 2014 financial year."

Character Group, a toys and games company, has issued a profits warning for the financial year ending August 31st 2013. It said: "Whilst sales in September were on budget, October sales showed a steep decline. The group now considers that it will fall materially short of its budgeted sales to Christmas and therefore will not be in a position to achieve the market forecasts for the financial year ending August 31st 2013." It added: "although we are now expecting the first half results of the current financial year to be disappointing, we remain optimistic that overall, with Character's stable of established branded ranges and stronger new product line up, supported by encouraging initial reactions and feedback from our customers both domestically and internationally, trading will generate stronger sales in the 2013 calendar year as a whole and provide a much improved trading position as we move into the 2014 financial year."

Best of all, Taliesin's shares trade at a 12 per cent discount to its 'going concern' NAV per share of €15.43 (£12.37), which strips out capitalised losses on hedges and deferred tax that is unlikely to be paid. For a stake in a red-hot market, that seems reasonable.

The price of individual properties is also soaring, with average prices up 16.3 per cent over a year in Berlin, according to Jones Lang LaSalle. Seeing rents rise for the first time in living memory, many of the 78 per cent of Berliners who rent are taking advantage of low interest rates to buy. Taliesin owns a portfolio of apartment blocks worth €113m, mainly in former East Berlin. It is not, perhaps, the ideal vehicle. Its diminutive size means it's difficult to deal in the shares and its operating costs are relatively high. It also carries a lot of debt, the interest on which soaks up cash profits not invested in refurbishments. There are consequently no dividends. Yet these drawbacks also make it a good-value play on a sector that is otherwise exciting much interest. Its shares are off the City's radar (hence, no profits forecasts) but that could soon change. Taliesin issued €7.2m of new shares in the first half to help buy a €45m portfolio and the fund's director, Mark Smith, plans to raise the company's profile once this acquisition, which has been delayed by negotiations with banks, is complete. He reckons €300m is the optimal portfolio size. Moreover, the effect of Taliesin's high debt to equity gives it a big boost in a rising market. Its net asset value (NAV) rose 13 per cent last year, even as its portfolio increased by about 9 per cent. And investing post-interest profits in a refurbishment programme seems sensible when it drives big rental uplifts. Rental income rose by 7.3 per cent in the first half.

At first glance, Aim-traded Taliesin (TPF) might be just another boom-era property fund that piled into central Europe with masses of debt at peak valuations. But it's different because it picked a market underpinned by robust fundamentals - flats in Berlin. Five years later, with its net asset value significantly higher than in 2007, Taliesin looks in fine shape. Housing in Berlin is arguably Europe's strongest property market (see Property Matters). With a post-reunification boom in the early 1990s followed by a crash that has taken well over a decade to work out, Berlin is on a completely different property cycle to the rest of Europe. Its oversupply is finally expunged so, against a healthy economic and demographic backdrop, rents are rising rapidly. That has prompted lively investment activity, helped by German housing becoming a popular hedge against the possibility of a euro break up. Backed by 30,000 German rented homes, the first commercial mortgage-backed security since the financial crisis was launched in September; fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management recently announced an institutional fund aimed at the same sector; and €6.4bn (£5.1bn) of German property portfolios changed hands in the first half of 2012 - considerably more than in all of 2011.

Share tip summary After recent earnings downgrades, Anglo's shares are now rated at almost 14 times forecast earnings for 2012, which is significantly higher than shares in rivals Rio Tinto and Glencore. Meanwhile, the full impact of the strikes on output and costs may bring further blows, and more bad news from the Minas Rio project cannot be ruled out. ......but as always dyor and good luck.....

Notwithstanding Minas Rio, Anglo remains disproportionately exposed to South Africa through the scale of its iron ore, platinum and coal operations. These segments accounted for around half of 2011's cash profits, with Kumba Iron Ore - a site of recent wildcat strikes - responsible for 39 per cent of cash profits in the first half of 2012. The group undoubtedly benefits from some first-rate mines in South Africa, but clearly the country is an increasingly risky place in which to operate. Only last month ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded its credit ratings for both Anglo American and South Africa, citing the wildcat strikes and gathering social unrest as reasons. It is a worrying precedent that Anglo has just been forced to cede a $143m majority stake in a mine in neighbouring Zimbabwe, as part of that country's 'indigenisation' programme. Many activists in South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) are pushing Pretoria to follow Zimbabwe's uncompromising policy and, with elections due in 2014, they may get their way. Meanwhile, problems with illegal industrial action show little sign of abating. Amplats, the group's 80 per cent-owned platinum arm, agreed to reinstate 12,000 platinum miners it had previously sacked for a wildcat strike at its Rustenburg site. It even offered to pay a one-off 'hardship allowance' of ZAR 2,000 (£143) net of taxes to compensate employees for lost pay, but to no avail. The strikers are holding out for a wage increase in line with the 11-22 per cent settlements granted to employees of Lonmin's Marikana mine - the scene of South Africa's deadliest outbreak of labour-linked violence. Anglo faces other threats to production as industrial disputes have started spreading to other areas of the economy. If, for example, thermal coal production fell as a consequence of strikes, then state-owned energy supplier Eskom could be forced to reintroduce the rolling power cuts that seriously hit mining production in the recent past

The resignation of Anglo American's (AAL) chief executive, Cynthia Carroll, certainly played well with the stock market. Shares in the South Africa-focused mining giant ticked up nearly 4 per cent after Ms Carroll said she was leaving. Despite this upwards blip, the group has entered a transitional phase at a time of heightened industrial and social unrest in South Africa. So, although Anglo's share price is 34 per cent off its 12-month high, there are factors that could push it much lower. Apart from its timing, news of Ms Carroll's resignation caught few industry analysts completely by surprise. The mining giant's share price fell during her nigh-on six-year tenure. So, after years of underperformance, a change of leadership was predictable, particularly considering the growing dissatisfaction of some of Anglo's major shareholders, such as BlackRock. Part of the Ms Carroll's remit was to diversify Anglo American away from South Africa. In this, she has only been partially successful. The hugely promising Minas Rio iron ore project in Brazil, for example, is now three years behind schedule and has already cost Anglo around $10bn (£6.2bn) - around double the original estimate. A recent visit by board members to Brazil prompted speculation that a write-down is in the offing, along with another hike in the capital costs.

Since 22 October, when it first looked likely that Hurricane Sandy could strike New York, Amlin's share price has fallen about 5 per cent. But the shares still trade on 1.3 times Numis's estimate for end 2012 net tangible assets (NTA) of 283p a share. That's not cheap. Shares in Catlin and Beazley trade on 1.1 times and 1.2 times Numis's forecast NTA, while Novae's trade at just 0.8 times. With the outlook for insurance premiums uncertain and Amlin facing the prospect of painful losses from Sandy - a trading update is due on 15 November - expect its share rating to face more pressure. ........but as always dyor gl

Returns from Amlin's investments won't help much, either. True, they are focused on fairly conservative looking bonds and liquid investments and, in the first of 2012, delivered a 2 per cent yield, largely in line with many of Amlin's peers. But Amlin's returns can also look volatile and during 2011, for example, its investments yielded just 0.9 per cent. Still, putting Sandy aside, Amlin's performance in 2012 has been reasonable. With no other significant losses, the group reported a solidly profitable 84 per cent combined ratio for the first half. The dividend yield is nearly 7 per cent, too, based on Numis's full-year forecast payout (see table) - that's one of the best among the UK's listed insurers, with only shares in RSA and motor insurer Admiral yielding more.

The upside from catastrophe claims is that they leave insurers needing to hike premiums in order to rebuild their reserves - good news for longer-term earnings. But Hurricane Sandy may not cause sufficient losses to trigger this. Sandy's possible maximum loss of around $15bn is modest compared with losses of $45bn in 2005 from Hurricane Katrina - an event that did boost rates. While 2011's accumulated losses for all insurers - $116bn according to Swiss Re - only boosted premium rates noticeably on catastrophe-exposed business lines. Before Sandy struck, Numis had even been expecting insurers' average premium rates to fall around 3 per cent during 2013 and it's not clear whether Sandy-related losses will be enough to change that. So Amlin could be left nursing a heavy one-off loss with little scope to bolster rates to compensate.

A string of natural catastrophes in 2011 meant painful losses for insurers. Happily, a benign claims environment in 2012 looked set to signal a return to underwriting profits for insurers. Then there was Hurricane Sandy. The scale of losses as the hurricane ripped up the east coast of the US and deluged New York isn't yet clear. Lloyd's insurer Hiscox, for example, has said that it remains "too early to produce any meaningful estimate of claims". But risk modeller AIR Worldwide thinks the insured losses could range between $7bn (£4.4bn) and $15bn, and that could prove especially painful for Lloyd's underwriter Amlin (AML). The problem is that Amlin looks more exposed to catastrophe-related business than many of its rivals and tends to suffer more when catastrophes strike. Last year's heavy losses demonstrate this (see table). Most of the damage came in the first half when Amlin's combined ratio (of claims to premiums) was a heavily loss-making 122 per cent. In contrast, Beazley didn't slide nearly so far into loss, with a combined ratio of 108 per cent in 2011's first half. Ironically, less than two weeks before Sandy appeared - when it seemed that 2012's hurricane season would pass without serious incident - analysts at broker Numis Securities pointed to Amlin's greater sensitivity to catastrophe claims as a possible bull point. "Amlin is the biggest economic winner from a quiet year for catastrophes," the broker said in a research note.

Apologies didnt realise you had posted same broker tip..........

Nomura has cut its target price for gold miner Randgold Resources from 7,400p to 7,075p and retained its 'reduce' rating on the stock, saying the business needs to execute to maintain its premium rating. The broker now says that fourth-quarter figures are under pressure, following the poorly-received third-quarter results. Nomura is forecasting full-year production of 819,000 ounces of gold, below Randgold's own guidance of 825,000 ounces, saying that while its possible that the miner will meet targets, "it will be a challenge".