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John Trotman, Chief Financial Officer of Big Yellow, said the reduction in the total bank facility was consistent with the company's intention to use surplus cash flow to reduce bank debt over the next 18 months to two years.

Storage firm Big Yellow Group said it had taken out a new debt facility, at the same time cutting back on its total borrowing. The company has taken a £190m four year bank facility with Lloyds TSB, HSBC and Santander, which expires in September 2016. The new debt replaces the group's existing £225m facility, which expires in September 2013 and was provided by the same three banks and HSH Nordbank. That has been fully repaid following completion of the refinancing. The new debt is made up of a £140m term loan, with the remaining £50m a more flexible revolving facility. The amount of the facility has been reduced to £190m as the group said it no longer needed a higher capacity given its commitment to reduce debt. The firm's proforma average interest cost of debt is now 4.25%, and the weighted average expiry of the its debt facilities is 7.2 years.

As regards the de-merger the broker adds that: "This timescale is somewhat disappointing but, clearly, there are more immediate issues to be tackled." Also of interest, these analysts point out that, "Most of the peers (the extended UK Industrial Engineering sector) have been re-rated upwards since we last set a target price for Cookson."

Precious Metals Processing division Trading in the third quarter, which reflected the normal seasonal trends, was satisfactory and expectations for the full year remain unchanged. Financial condition and outlook Cookson said net debt should reduce significantly over the rest of the calendar year from £451m at the half-year statement, and previous expectations for year-end net debt levels remain unchanged. The outlook remains a bit foggy, however. As mentioned, the Engineering Ceramics division is expected to see second half performance below that of the first half and previous expectations, but the Performance Materials division's second half performance should be a bit better than the first half's; the Precious Metals Processing division is on course to deliver a performance in line with previous expectations. Investec comments Ahead of a conference call with the company analysts at Investec are telling their clients that: "Steel and ferrous casting production volumes have dropped in the third quarter of 2012 to below the expected levels (and also to below the usual seasonal patterns) and solar demand remains very depressed. Ahead of a conference call that could bring greater clarity, we estimate that consensus earninsg per share (EPS) estimates are likely to fall by over 10% (but maybe by less than 15%), which is likely to have a negative impact on valuation. A de-merger is still being assessed but there are also some warning signs around growth rates in Performance Materials."

Meanwhile, on Foundry castings end-markets, such as heavy lorries, wind turbines and construction, are also seeing a slow-down in activity. "This trend, which has affected the majority of geographic regions, has inevitably led to a further slow-down in demand in our Foundry Technologies business from that experienced in the second quarter," the group revealed. The firm is taking action to respond to the lower levels of demand, and in a number of countries negotiations have been started with the relevant authorities regarding government subsidised working hour reduction schemes. Performance Materials division Overall trading in this division in the third quarter has been in line with expectations. A seasonal pick-up in demand in consumer electronics manufacturing and the seemingly insatiable appetite of consumers for smartphones has been good for the Assembly Materials division but gains here have been offset by the Surface Chemistries business, where business levels are drifting lower, largely as a result of a slow-down in production in the European car market and, more recently, a tailing off of products used in the fabrication and packaging of semiconductors.

Cookson, which provides materials and know-how to the steel production, foundry castings and eletronics markets, has warned on full year profits after a sticky third quarter for its Engineered Ceramics division. "In light of the conditions being experienced by the Engineered Ceramics division, full year performance for the group as a whole is now expected to be materially below the board's previous expectations," Cookson revealed. Other parts of the business are ticking over as expected. Engineered Ceramics division Third quarter performance of this division has been below expectations, with the deterioration in end market quickening in September. "Assuming a continuation of current end-market conditions, the Engineered Ceramics division's performance in the second half of 2012 is now expected to be substantially below both the first half and previous expectations," the company's interim management statement said. The group said there have been signs of some further weakening in steel production volume trends, particularly in the US, Europe and Brazil, which has knocked the performance of its steel related businesses, Steel Flow Control and Advanced Refractories.

Investment firm Rathbone Brothers has acquired just under one-fifth of both Vision Independent Financial Planning and its sister company, Castle Investment Solutions. Rathbone Brothers has paid £2m in cash for a 19.9% stake in the pair. The stakes have been purchased from the founders of Vision and Castle, namely Roger Edwards and Paul Sweaton, and their spouses. Rathbone Brothers has the option to take total ownership of the two businesses in 2015 for a mixture of cash and Rathbone shares, with a further potential deferred element payable at the start of 2018. If Rathbone chooses not to exercise this option, the founders of the acquired businesses have the right to buy back the stakes they sold to Rathbones for £2m. Vision is an independent specialist financial advice network focusing on high net worth private clients. Rathbone Investment Management already has an existing discretionary fund management panel relationship with Vision. As for Castle, it operates as a sister company to Vision, providing it with certain administrative services.

Interbulk, a logistic company that makes most of its money shipping chemicals, has issued a profits warning at the same time as announcing that it has refinanced its debt. Blaming the European recession, supply chain volatility and a weak euro, the company confirmed that "revenue for the year ended September 30th 2012 is expected to be slightly below market expectations [and] profit before tax is expected to be below market expectations and similar to the year ended September 30th 2011." On a more positive note Interbulk has refinanced its debt with a new four-year debt package totalling £76.7m with the Banks of Scotland. The deal should save it around £1.5m in interest charges annually, commencing in the year ending September 30th 2013. The company, with a market cap of £26m, rose slightly in early morning trade on Monday.

It comes on top of significant governmental wrangling over the deal, which politicians are worried could affect national security. UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC over the weekend that France and Germany must reduce their stakes in defence firm EADS if the UK is to allow a proposed merger with BAE Systems to go ahead. He said the government was willing to use its 'golden share' in BAE, which allows it to block any change in control of the UK-listed company. Meanwhile there are reports Germany has threatened to scupper the £28bn merger unless the headquarters of the combined company is located in Munich. The firms have until October 10th to announce whether they will continue with the talks.

Invesco, the largest shareholder in BAE, has voiced 'significant reservations' over its proposed merger with EADS and the impact it could have on shareholders. Funds managed by Invesco own around 13.3% of defence firm BAE's ordinary shares, making it the largest shareholder in the company. The investment firm said it "does not understand the strategic logic for the proposed combination" other than diversification, which it said investors could achieve for themselves more cheaply and simply. It also said the merger would materially jeopardize BAE's "unique and privileged position in the United States defence market", and had been unable to identify any corresponding benefits to offset this. Invesco also hit out at the terms of the deal, saying the envisioned 60:40 merger ratio did not reflect BAE's superior cash generation, or the quality of its earnings stream. It is also "very concerned that shareholder dividends will not be prioritised in the combined group, with BAE shareholders then facing a significant drop in their dividend income in the future."

Rupert Pearce, Chief Executive Officer of Inmarsat, said: "Through these agreements with Cisco we are providing world-class infrastructure as a platform for our partners and us to offer services beyond pure satellite connectivity and this is a key aspect of our strategy for the future." The service delivery platform is scheduled for service introduction in 2014. The announcement of the collaboration with Cisco followed hot on the heels of a hook-up with US technology firm Honeywell; the two are to jointly provide business aviation satellite services via Inmarsat's Global Xpress satellite system.

Satellite communications services firm Inmarsat and US networking company Cisco have formed a long-term alliance that will enable Inmarsat to deliver advanced services over its new high-throughput satellite broadband network, Global Xpress (GX). The services will range from applications to business collaboration and video to multimedia content. Cisco will provide Inmarsat with a satellite applications service delivery platform and a high performance access network for Inmarsat's Global Xpress programme, the first global Ka-band (the satellite transmission frequency) network with mobile connectivity. Cisco will also develop a router for satellite network end-users that will use not only the Inmarsat GX capabilities, but also the current BGAN global network. Cisco will build and operate the network on a fully managed basis before transferring it to Inmarsat.

Wood Group, the international energy services company, has confirmed that is has received anti-trust approval from the US Federal Trade Commission for its proposed acquisition of Mitchell's Oil Field Services. The conditions of the acquisition have now been satisfied, and the transaction is now expected to be completed by October 22nd. As previously announced, the $135m acquisition significantly increases the company's presence in the US Bakken shale region and is expected to be earnings-enhancing from completion. Further earn out payments are due in the period to 2015, depending on the future performance of Mitchell.

Paragon, the FTSE-250 buy-to-let mortgage specialist, has acquired further unsecured consumer loans through its Idem Capital Securities subsidiary from the Royal Bank of Scotland under the terms of a forward flow agreement. Paragon is financing the purchase from its existing cash reserves and which represents the value at which the acquired loans will be taken on to its balances sheet, namely £25,000. The investment is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year. The firm previous acquired a portflio of loans from RBS for £43.2m, along with other smaller purchases. The group said further loans may be taken on.

After Michael Page's profit warning on Monday, shareholders in sector peer Hays must be fearing the worst ahead of the recruiter's third quarter trading update. Peel Hunt says markets are clearly still challenging. "Asian markets, where NFI [net fee income] is weighted towards banking, are weak and European and RoW [Rest of World] markets excluding Germany and Canada have become increasingly tough. Australia is likely to be slowing, as the pause in mining resources activity will likely [have an] impact [on] other sectors in that region," Peel Hunt said.

Underground construction group Shaft Sinkers sank to a new low after being hit by a double-whammy. First, the company revealed work at the Moab project in South Africa has been interrupted pending resolution of the unprotected strike, although it added that its work under this contract is substantially complete and the revenues outstanding do not represent a material proportion of the company's 2012 order book. Nevertheless, management is conscious that the general operating environment in South Africa continues to be difficult and will continue to monitor the impact of this on its wider business. Of more serious concern was the filing of a claim against the company by EuroChem in relation to the project the two companies were working on, which was terminated with effect from April 20th 2012. Shaft Sinkers said it has not yet received notification of the arbitration claims but believes that any such claims are without merit and will contest them robustly. Shaft Sinkers is finalising its claims against EuroChem arising out of the termination of the contract and will pursue these claims against EuroChem

The company said: "A capital investment programme is underway to strengthen Holographics' offer to the growing security and authentication market." API commenced a formal sales process in September after the board decided earlier in the year that it would consider exploring a sale in the third quarter. "Having consulted with its advisers and given the matter careful consideration, the board has now concluded that such a step would serve shareholder interests and is therefore seeking potential offerors for the company, initiating a formal sale process and putting the company into an offer period with immediate effect," the firm said on September 26th.

Specialist foils and packaging materials maker API Group has reassured that interim results will be in line with expectations after an 'encouraging' trading performance in the first six months of the year. However, the company did not that it was cautious on demand levels in European markets and that its view was "in common with many other companies". However, it said that the outlook for the rest of the year remains positive given specific sales opportunities and improvement initiatives. Margins in the first half have continued to recover from the raw material cost pressures seen last year and sales are expected to up year-on-year. The Laminates division is performing ahead of plan, while Foils Americas and Foils Europe have held on to their profit improvement momentum due to better margins and lower costs, the group said. However, some weakness has been identified in the Holographics unit with results expected to be lower due to the completion of a significant joint project with Laminates, as well as a slowdown in order from external customers.

Africa-focused investment company Blackstar has disposed of a listed services derivative investment, using the proceeds to pay down debt. The disposal was made via a series of on-market sales for a cash consideration of 152m South African rand, being a premium of 4.7% to its carrying value as reported on August 31st. Blackstar generated a 2.28 times return on investment in ZAR and 2.04 times return in GBP, which equates to a 16% and 14% internal rate of return (IRR), respectively, over the six-year and four-month holding period. "The majority of the disposal proceeds will be applied against the Investec Bank Limited debt facility that was taken out in January 2012. Blackstar will continue to focus its attention on unlocking further value from its current portfolio of investments and is now well positioned to pursue a range of interesting new investment opportunities," the company said. Meanwhile, Blackstar director Andrew Bonamour said: "The investment was held through a volatile and turbulent period which included the global financial crisis and the Board is pleased that it has been able to generate a good return on this investment for its shareholders during this period."

Avarae Global Coins, the AIM-listed company dealing in rare and high quality coins, has produced a less than sterling trading update. Revenues for the six months ended September 30th 2012 are expected to be "not less than £0.45m", compared with £1.58m for the same period in 2011. Margins have dropped from 44% to "not less than 15%". Diane Clarke, a director of Avarae, said: "Whilst the company did not benefit this year from the strong performance of our coins in the Hong Kong auction of August last year, a 15 per cent gross profit margin still represents a significant uplift from the carrying value of coins as of March 31st 2012. "The highest quality coins continue to attract strong prices around the world, as evidenced by the recent £780,000 (including buyer's premium) paid for one of Australia's rarest coins, a George V 1920 Sydney mint gold sovereign, which was sold for more than three times the price paid the last time such a coin was available for sale in 2006."