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Fund Manager MAM Funds saw assets under management grow for the third quarter in a row and said the second half of the year had started well. Assets under management reached £1.72bn at the end of June, up 3.5% from £1.67bn at the end of December. The company added that figure had increased to £1.75bn by the end of August. Adjusted profit before tax - a figure designed to show the underlying cash generation of the business - rose 5.3% to £2.0m. Executive Chairman Ian Dighé said the firm had an encouraging start to the second half of this year. "We have increasing confidence in the quality of our business and in our ability to grow the group," he said. "Notwithstanding market conditions, we are trading in line with our expectations and are ready to step up the investment in and the trajectory of the business". Shares rose almost 4% in morning trading on Monday after the announcement.

Shares in brick and tile firm Michelmersh Brick fell heavily on Monday after the firm said 2012 profits would come in below market expectations. The company said it only expects to break even for the full year after it came up short in the first half and said it would not make this ground up in the second. Group turnover fell to £11.9m from £12.2m in the first half of 2011. This led to a loss before tax of £84,000, compared to £105,000 the previous year, and a loss per share of 0.14p. The results reflected a reduction in landfill income and a decline in construction activity and business confidence, said Chairman Eric Gadsden. He added that lack of funding was still constraining demand despite the many government initiatives to attempt to improve conditions. "Although sales prices and income from carbon surpluses are usually stronger in the second half of the financial year, economic conditions do not suggest this will be the case in 2012," he said. "In addition, higher than anticipated interest costs will arise following the delay in receipt of the expected cash proceeds of the land disposed under the Persimmon option."

Norcon, the global communications network specialist, has confirmed that the large new project secured in Indonesia, announced last week, is with Indosat. The project is to enhance, expand and improve the quality of Indosat's cellular network. "Diversification of our revenue base into new geographies is the key strategic priority for Norcon and this deal with Indosat is evidence that we are making progress here," the firm's acting CEO said.

Avacta Group, which provides analytical and diagnostic technologies and services to the pharmaceutical and animal healthcare sectors, has signed its third agreement with Pall Corp, which will sell and distribute Avacta's protein drug development tool, known as Optim, in India.

GETECH, the oil services business specialising in the provision of exploration data and geological exploration studies, has announced a new call-off contract, valued at one million euro, with a major existing client. The order includes a committment to GETECH's Global Programmes, as well as purchase of its Trident gravity dataset. The client is the seventh to sign up to the core elements of GETECH's CryoSat research project, which is a pilot study aimed at improving the exploration value of satellite gravity data.

Residential estate agent M Winkworth revealed a 25 per cent slump in half year pre-tax profit, after exceptional costs subdued market conditions, but it anticipates transactions in the UK will rise by 10 per cent in 2012 following an upturn in the final quarter. The group, which has been selling property since 1835, said pre-tax profit fell to £421,140 for the six months ended June 30th 2012 from £564,846 for the same period in 2011 after £90,000 of exceptional costs. Winkworth, which has opened five new offices in 2012 and has signed up for a further two in 2013, said exceptional costs related to the company's brand modernisation as well as a relatively weak international performance. Sales for the period were up 5.8% to £1.89m while cash generated from operations soared to £241,387 from £35,585 the year before. Earnings per share fell to 2.56p from 3.28p a year before. Commenting on market conditions, Chief Executive Officer Dominic Agace said: "With the festivities surrounding the London Olympics now over and the most recent government initiatives to lower the cost of mortgages in place, we expect the year to end well. In a still subdued market we anticipate that overall transactions in the UK will rise by 10% in 2012 following an upturn in the final quarter." "In the near term, we see our growth coming from our increasing number of country offices, where in 2012 to-date we have added 26% to the average property price listed and, as a result of these being plugged into the Winkworth network, increased average fees by 13%," he added. The group said it is still on track for substantial growth between 2012 and 2015, but expects much of the growth to come from outside of London as it builds on its existing presence in the country and as its earlier expansion efforts mature. An interim 2012 dividend of 2.4p has been declared.

Shares of maritime waste treatment company Nature Group fell after it posted a decline in half year earnings and said it would defer its interim dividend payment. Pre-tax profit fell to £1.01m for the six months to June 30th 2012 from £2.03m for the same period in 2011. Group revenues slipped to £8.08m from £8.38m earlier. Operating profit for the period rose to £3.96m from £3.75m before. Commenting on the results, Executive Chairman Bernard Muller said: "Revenues held up despite the inevitable impact of the recession around the world on the shipping industry." "We have invested heavily in this period to build the infrastructure we need to deliver our long term plan and remain confident that we are better placed than ever to assist our customers in the continuing move towards more strictly regulated environmental controls." Nature Group said, while it is confident in the group's long-term strategy, it felt it was prudent not to pay a dividend at this stage this year. Looking ahead the group added: "The forecasts for global shipping and associated freight rates are not currently showing signs of recovery for the remainder of this year and 2013. Whilst this inevitably impacts on our key Port Reception Facility Division, given the continuing regulatory drivers and our pipeline of new business opportunities, we remain optimistic that we will be able to meet market expectations for the year ending 31 December 2012."

Personal group has undertaken a series of initiatives to improve our customer experience, sharpen its product offering and to strengthen its operating systems, all with a view to building a sound platform for longer-term growth, it explained. Scanlon told Sharecast that he was encouraged by the strong levels of new business in a difficult environment. "Customer engagement is a priority for us," Scanlon asserted, adding that equipping customer-facing staff with iPads has led to a sharp increase in on-the-spot subscriptions. Personal Group is rather old school in that it still sends company reps out to talk face-to-face with customers to suss out their requirements, but its use of technology, in the form of Apple's tablet device, is very modern. "The great thing about the iPad is that it enables instant sign-up. We can show them the benefits of our services and they can sign-up there and then. It's early days, yet, but we've seen sign-ups go up to fifty or sixty per cent from ten to fifteen previously," Scanlon added. As for the economic picture, the employment figures are holding up surprisingly well during the recession, and Scanlon confirmed to Sharecast that Personal Group's overall model is seeing no change in employment levels. "We've like to improve our attrition rate, obviously. We've had one or two companies running into problems but nothing, touch wood, too significant," he concluded. An interim dividend of 8.9p per share has been recommended, up from 8.7p a year earlier.

Employee retention scheme specialist Personal Group reported a fall in half year profit but says demand for its core products remains robust. The employee benefits and insurance firm added that trading for the current period remains in line with the board's expectations. Pre-tax profit fell to £4.1m for the six months to June 30th 2012 from £4.8m previously. Revenue for the period increased by 1.4% to £13.8m. EPS, before goodwill impairment, rose 6.1% to 12.2p per share. Profit before tax and before goodwill impairment increased by 3.3% to £4.9m while claims incurred have remained in line with the board's expectations. Chief Executive Mark Scanlon commented: "We are reporting our strongest ever half year operating results, with new business generation at a consistently high level." Chairman Chris Curling added: "Demand for our core products remains strong and trading for the current period remains in line with the board's expectations. Much work is under-way to improve our customer offering and to strengthen our competitive advantage. The board therefore remains optimistic for the prospects of the group."

Bayfield Energy, an upstream oil and gas exploration and production company, has agreed with the Trinidad state oil company, Petrotrin, on revisions to the crude oil sales agreement governing the sale of Bayfield's share of production from the Trintes field, offshore Trinidad. The revisions are the result of developments in crude markets which mean West Texas Intermediate crude, which is a commonly used marker for crude sales in the Caribbean market, is no longer considered by the two parties to be a fair reflection of the market value of Bayfield's crude. The sales contract will now adopt Brent crude as the reference price and have adopted a revised sales price at a discount of 9.5%, rather than the 17.5% previously, for a period of a minimum of 12 months as of August 1st 2012. Bayfield Energy Chief Executive, Hywel John, said: "It is encouraging to report on the success of our initiatives to improve cash flow and manage our financial commitments to enable us to establish a sound platform from which to continue our exploration programme."

AEC Eduction delivered a pre-tax loss of £0.67m during the half year period, compared to a profit of £0.298m the same period the previous year. This mainly reflected losses of £0.939m incurred by UK operations, including restructuring & investment in new colleges in Dublin and Oman. Revenue for the period increased marginally, from £8.926m to £8.979m. The period delivered a loss per share of 1.2p (2011: earnings per share of 0.54p). Net cash at the period end was £2.90m (2011: £3.19m

Technology firm OMG has luanched Autographer, its intelligent, wearable camera, which is also the first product to be developed under the company's consumer division, OMG Life. The camera is based on the same Microsoft 'SenseCam' technology already deployed within OMG's 'Revue' camera, which is targeted at the medical research market. "Autographer represents a further example of OMG's ability to transfer core imaging technologies across the group and open them up to new and exciting end markets," the firm said.

Resource Holding Management, a media firm focused on China and Malaysia, saw revenues drop in the first half after it decided to go after higher margin clients. Revenue in the six months to the end of June fell by 28% to 20m Malaysian ringgits (RM), around £4m. Profit before tax was flat at at RM4.5m, while earnings per share dropped by 5.7% to 12.13 sen. Chairman, Datuk Oh Chong Peng, said during the period his firm had focused on profitability by offering more, high margin advertising products and services such as out-of-home and digital media. "This strategy also required us to offer less of the conventional media services and products, where margins tend to be very low yet contribute significantly to the top-line," he said. "As a result, the group saw an expected decrease in revenue, though gross profit and profit before tax levels are at par with the first half of 2011."

Peter Hetherington, the Chief Operating Officer of spread betting firm IG Group has more than halved his stake in the company just a fortnight after it reported a decline in first quarter revenue, as it ran up against strong figures from a year earlier, when markets were particularly volatile. Hetherington earned £705,642 from the transaction, in which he sold 156,012 shares at 452.30p a go. He now hold 100,000 shares. In its quarterly results, the firm said revenue in the three months to the end of August - the first quarter of the group's financial year - was in line with expectations at £81.5m, 18% lower than the prior year figure of £99.6m. The group's major market is the UK, and here revenue was down 21% to £41.1m. The number of active clients in the UK was down 16% and revenue per client was 6% lower year-on-year (y/y). The group said it continued to face tough comparatives at the start of the second quarter, with September 2011 the second highest revenue month in the history of the company. It anticipates that revenue this year will, as in most years, be weighted towards the second half. Despite a volatile 12 months, the share price is just 2.66% higher than it was at the same date a year ago, having risen almost 24p in the past month.

Mining giant Bumi said it was investigating allegations of financial and other irregularities at its Indonesian operations. The investigation centres on PT Bumi Resources, in which the company has a 29% interest, with particular focus on that firm's development funds. "The extensive development funds in PT Bumi Resources Tbk and the one development asset in PT Berau Coal Energy Tbk were marked down to zero in the accounts of Bumi plc as at December 31st 2011, except for one investment with a carrying value of $39m in the consolidated financial statements," the statement said. It added the independent investigation would examine the allegations on an urgent basis and report to the board. The company said it also intended to contact relevant authorities in the UK and Indonesia, as appropriate, in respect of some of the allegations. The FTSE 250 company, whose London listing was driven by financier Nat Rothschild, has lost around half its value in the last month due to debt worries at Bumi Resources as well as the falling value of coal.

"We continue to take a number of decisive actions to achieve this, including implementing milk selling price increases, closing our Aintree creamery, consolidating milk rounds to allow the closure of 23 depots in the six months and reducing overheads. Plans are on track to close our Fenstanton dairy, as previously announced, this autumn," it explained. Key to share price performance is the use of the proceeds from St Hubert. Acquisitions are likely to be materially earnings enhancing given the low returns on cash. Analysts at Peel Hunt however have chosen to focus in a reserach note today on the potential for M&A, saying that: "Key to share price performance is the use of the proceeds from St Hubert. Acquisitions are likely to be materially earnings enhancing given the low returns on cash."

Dairy Crest warned of lower first half profits, as challenging conditions continue, but said profit expectations for the full year ending March 31st 2013 remain unchanged. Trading in the first half-year has remained challenging and profits, having adjusted for the disposal of the French spreads business, St Hubert, will be lower than the same period last year, the group said in a company statement. The company's four main brands; Cathedral City, Country Life, Clover and Frijj, performed strongly in the first half, after it increased marketing spend. Mark Allen, Chief Executive, commented: "We are pleased with our first half performance despite the significant pressures on our business. Although we expect these to continue into the second half our first half performance together with our plans for the second half means that our profit expectations for the full year remain unchanged." Dairy Crest said, in line with its continued drive efficiency across its business, is in talks with employees on plans to consolidate its spreads production into a single UK location, an existing facility at Kirkby, Merseyside. As a result, its site in Crudgington, Shropshire, will potentially close in 2014. Commenting on its Dairies business, in which it has faced unprecedented market conditions, it says it remains focused on achieving a 3% return on sales in this business in the medium term.

Specialised technical products and services provider Diploma expects results for the year to the end of September will be in line with market consensus. Revenues are tipped to be around 13% ahead of the previous year, with underlying revenues advancing by some 6%. Fourth quarter revenues are set to be 5% higher year-on-year, maintaining the pace of growth seen in the third quarter. Strong cash flows in the final quarter of the year will result in year end net cash being strongly positive, Diploma said. Operating margins have eased in the second half of the financial year from the first half, but are still ahead of the prior year.

The company was hit by a 16% increase in costs, due to the cost of labour and electricity, as well as increased treatment volumes. Profits were also hit by unrealised foreign exchange losses of $38.6m. The company offered reassurance on the recent unrest in the South African mining sector, which has seen workers killed and a number of mines closed. "With regards to Petra, it is important to note that the majority of the group's employees are skilled and semi-skilled workers, as block cave mining is a highly mechanised process," it said. "Petra has a strong track record of stable labour relations and has not over recent months experienced any disturbances related to employee unrest or external intimidation of employees." The firm said its expansion plans were on target to increase production to five million carats by the end of its 2019 financial yea

Petra Diamonds said revenues had been propped up by its recently acquired Finsch mine in South Africa, which largely offset falling diamond prices. The firm said it expected the diamond market to remain under pressure in the near future because of economic uncertainty, but added that the medium to long-term outlook for the rough diamond industry was robust due to forecasts of demand outstripping supply. Petra reported revenue of $316.9m for the year, an increase of 44% on the $220.6m previously. The increase in revenue was primarily due to the contribution from its Finsch mine in South Africa, which added $136.9m to revenue for the year. The Finsch acquisition was completed in September 2011. Pre-tax profits plunged to $8.4m, from $64.4m the year before, with earnings per share coming in at a loss of 0.48c.