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Recruitment firm Kellan said it narrowed full year losses in the year ended December 31st 2011 and looks to future trading with optimism after it streamlined the business. The IT, accountancy, hospitality, leisure and professional services recruitment company said pre-tax losses reduced to £5.9m in the year from £10.7m in 2010. Revenue slipped to £26.9m from £29.8m as it reduced administrative expenses to £16.3m from £22.71m previously. Kellan took a non-cash goodwill and intangibles impairment charge of £5m, down from £9.5m the previous year. "2011 was another challenging year for Kellan Group, but one in which adjusted EBITDA profit for the year of £0.17 million showed a 54.5% increase against 2010 and costs were reduced by a further 13% through tight control," the group said in a company statement. Aligning its business with the market, it reduced its workforce to 162 from 185 in 2010.

Its online marketing and data services firm Interactive Prospect Targeting, of which it owns 45.5%, performed satisfactorily. The security solutions business, Sira Defence and Security Limited was hit by weak order intake, particularly in the solutions development part of its business. Looking ahead the group said it sees a number of good opportunities: "We estimate that the return to normalised economic growth in the UK is still 2-3 years away. As a result we continue to seek investment opportunities that have identifiable problems that we can fix but that are not dependent on general economic recovery." Volvere said it has sold most of its treasury investments for good profit during the period and it has used some of the cash generated to increase the level of share buybacks. "The level of our share price continues to be well below our net asset value per share which we believe does not reflect fairly the company's prospects. As a result we intend to write to shareholders shortly to seek approval for a renewal and extension of our share buyback authority," it said.

Shares in turnaround investment firm Volvere soared as continues to seek investments in line with company strategy and plans to increase the level of share buybacks. The group reported a £0.27m loss for the six months ended June 30th 2012 compared to a £0.92m profit the year before following its investment in Quizfactor. Revenue increased to £6.88m from £4.67m for the half-year period while net assets per share grew to a new high of £3.71 a share in the first half of 2012. Commenting on the results, Chairman David Buchler explained: "The reduction in profitability was mainly due to the continuing investment in Quizfactor. The site is now operational and the amount of traffic is increasing through marketing and a number of partnering programs. I expect that we will see the first revenues for Quizfactor next year." Volvere added that Shire Foods' performance was encouraging over the period. The group bought 80% of the frozen pie and pasty manufacturing business in July 2011

"New business levels in the first two months of the financial year reflect the cautious stance of policyholders and are significantly below the level of the corresponding period in the prior year. However the board expects new business to gather momentum in the second quarter on the back of new product launches and also more positive investment market conditions." IFRS profit after tax fell to £11.2m during the year from £16.5m. Chief Executive Leonard Polonsky said: "In line with our new business strategy we continued to invest in regular premium flows and to focus on growth markets." He cautioned: "Single premium business remains constrained by market volatility and the instability in the Eurozone that shows few signs of abating. While the economic environment remains challenging, we have a robust strategy in place and are successfully developing the business in the growth markets of the Far East and Latin America." Hansard has recommended a final dividend payment of 8p, unchanged from last year.

Long-term savings provider Hansard said continued instability in the Eurozone weighed on new business sales and, it warned, damaging market forces show few signs of abating. As at 30 June assets under administration fell to £1m for the year ended June 30th 2012 from £1.2m before. In 2011 investment income came in as a £112.9m profit but, for the year ended June 30th 2012, it recorded a £145.7m loss. Single premium new business sales more than halved to £51.3m compared to £109.1m the year before. Regular premium new business sales increased to £124.4m during the period from £112m earlier.

Shares in Tanfield, a global manufacturer of Powered Access equipment and an investor in Smith Electric Vehicles, announced that on Thursday Smith decided not to pursue its planned initial public offering (IPO) after the valuation size proved too small. "We received significant interest from potential investors, however, we were unable to complete a transaction at a valuation or size that would be in the best interests of our company and its existing shareholders," said Bryan Hansel, Smith's Chief Executive Officer. "We have instead elected to pursue private financing opportunities to support the execution of our business plan."

Faroe Petroleum, an independent oil and gas company, is acquiring a 10 per cent non-operated interest in the East Foinaven Field and a 0.5 per cent interest in the West of Shetland Pipeline System from Marubeni Oil & Gas. The interests will be acquired for $32m in cash, but this will be reduced to take account of working capital adjustments for net income from the sale of hydrocarbons from the field during the period. Faroe will fund the acquisition using exisiting cash resources. The BP operated East Foinaven Field is located in blocks 204/24a,25b in the Atlantic Margin 190 kilometres west of Shetland. Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: "We are very pleased to further broaden our production portfolio through the acquisition of the East Foinaven interest which boosts and continues to diversify our oil and gas revenue.

Pierre Jungels, the Chairman of Oxford Catalysts, said: "The first half of 2012 has been a period of accelerated progress for the group and we've seen positive momentum continue to build post the period end. Our technology was selected for four exciting and different projects, and we are also taking part in numerous engineering studies with some of the world's largest corporations. "There is no doubt that 2012 will be an important year for the group as we continue on our path towards commercial success. There is an exciting pipeline ahead for our technology and the board looks to the future with confidence." Cash at the period end totalled £12.1m, compared to £17.1m six months earlier.

Synthetic fuels company Oxford Catalysts delivered an increased operating loss for the six months ended June 30th after growing costs offset improved revenues. Turnover rose from £2.95m to £3.64m, while the cost of sales climbed from £1.79m to £2.21m. The operating loss for the period came in at £5.07m, compared to £4.26m the same period the previous year. The company said it is now ready for commercial orders and said it has seen noticeable acceleration in the group's progress during the first half of the year and believes this momentum is set to continue for the remainder of 2012 and beyond. During the period the company was selected for multiple projects, including the Calumet 1,000 barrels of oil per day commercial gas-to-liquids plant and the GreenSky London waste-biomass to jet fuel commercial plant, in partnership with British Airways.

Our sound foundations augur well for our long-term success. We are one of the world's very few listed plantation companies with orange plantation assets and fruit processing facilities, operating in a highly fragmented market with strong barriers to entry. Despite the challenging circumstances we faced during the year, I am as enthusiastic and confident as ever in our ability to deliver business growth and shareholder value," Tong said. Seymour Pierce beat the drum for its client, maintaining its "buy" recommendation and 50p price target, noting the shares trade on a multiple of just 6.6 times historic earnings per share.

Adjusted earnings per share dipped to RMB0.62 (5.2p) from RMB.0.55 (5.3p) in the previous year. A final dividend of RMB.0.13 has been recommended, up from the previous year's final divi of RMB.0.10. If approved by shareholders, the final dividend will lift the full-year dividend up to RMB.0.18, versus RMB.0.15 the preceding year. The board is committed to maintaining a dividend payout ratio of at least 30% of core net profit. "Although China's economy is predicted to grow at a slower pace, the market for oranges should remain generally stable as they are regarded as a consumer product rather than a luxury good," explained company Chairman, Tony Tong. An unseasonably warm winter in China led to a glut of oranges heading into summer but this over-supply is expected to ease off in the final quarter of calendar 2012. As well as producing oranges, the group makes its own fruit concentrates, and sees excellent growth potential for this market.

Shares in Chinese fruit juice producer Asian Citrus moved further away from their 52-week low after full-year results topped expectations. Revenue for the year ended June 30th rose 25.7% to RMB.1,766.1m (£178.7m) from RMB.1,412.6m (£136.4m) the year before, ahead of house broker Seymour Pierce's forecast of RMB.1,725m. Revenue from sale of oranges grew by 9.9% to RMB.1,057.3m, helped by an increase of around 12.2% in the group's production to 243,421 tonnes but offset by 1.9% decrease in the average selling price. The production yield from the firm's Hepu Plantation decreased by 5.7% to 116,720 tonnes, mainly due to the ongoing replanting programme. The production yield from the Xinfeng Plantation increased significantly by 36.0% to 126,701 tonnes from 93,181 tonnes in the comparable year, as trees continue to mature and become more productive. Profit before tax eased to RMB.756.2m from RMB.1,050.2m the year before. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined 22.7% to RMB.876.7m (£88.2m) from RMB.1,135m (£109.5m) the preceding year. Underlying EBITDA, however, hardened by 12% to RMB.755.6m (£76.0m) from RMB.674.8m (£65.1m); these figures exclude items such as changes in the fair value of biological assets and share-based payments.

Both acquisitions will be integrated into Folhamatic, the leading provider of accounting, tax and payroll and regulatory content software in the country. Guy Berruyer, Chief Executive Office of Sage, said: "We are pleased to announce the acquisitions of EBS and Cenize, which are in line with our strategy of expanding our footprint in Brazil. These businesses are high growth, with recurring revenue models and are focused on core SME accounting customers. They are also highly complementary to Folhamatic, expanding our addressable market by geography and by segment."

Accountancy software group Sage has acquired EBS Empresa Brasileira de Sistemas, a provider of accounting, business management and tax software in Brazil. The acquisition, which was made through Sage's subsidiary, Folhamatic Tecnologia em Sistemas, cost the group up to £10.6m, including a performance related sum of £1.8m. The acquistion of EBS, which has around 4,000 customers, is being made to strengthen Sage's market leadership position in the accounting firm market in Brazil and extend the geographic breadth of its offering, particularly in the Southern region of the country. Sage also recently acquired Cenize Informática through Folhamatic, one of Sage's newest businesses, for a cash consideration of up to £3.9m, including a payment of £2.7m linked to the future financial performance of the business. Cenize is a provider of accounting software to over 7,000 small and micro businesses in Brazil.

The Home Affairs Committee, the group of MPs investigating G4S's failure to fulfil all of its Olympic Games contractual requirements, has called on the security firm to waive its fee. "G4S should waive its £57m management fee and also compensate its staff and prospective staff who it treated in a cavalier fashion," the damning report says. G4S released a penitent statement following the publication of the report and said its own investigation into "what went wrong with the execution of the contract and specifically why the contract execution issues were not identified on a more timely basis" is close to completion. G4S has already revealed that it expects to swallow a £50m-or-so loss on the contract. This figure includes an estimate for the additional costs incurred for the deployment of the increased military and police and penalties and liabilities due under the terms of the contract. It has also made clear, perhaps with half an eye on the fact that it will be bidding for lots more government contracts in the future, that the British taxpayer will not bear any additional costs. The group did quibble with the notion that the £57m "management fee" cited by the Home Affairs Committee (HAC) is a profit. "It relates substantially to real costs which have been incurred such as wages, property and IT expenditure," the group explained, adding that the final financial settlement is currently under discussion with LOCOG, the body which organised the London Olympic Games.

Property company British land has offloaded seven food stores to institutional investors. The company sold the gaggle of supermarkets at prices in line with March valuations to raise £118m, of which British Land's share is £62m. The stores were sold at net initial yields of between 4.95% and 5.7%. Charles Maudsley, Head of Retail for British Land, said: "On the back of good demand in the food store sector, we have sold over £100m of food store investments featuring a variety of ages, rent levels and lease expiries. The sales were in line with, or above, our March valuations, reflecting the income security and growth prospects for the various stores. This is very much in line with our stated strategy of capital recycling to maximise our portfolio returns."

Another director at embattled pubs group Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) is on his bike, with Doug Evans announcing his intention to take up a role as company secretary and general counsel at recruitment agency Hays. The All Bar One and Harvester chains owner has had its fair share of board room upheaval since Piedmont, the investment vehicle of Bahamas-based billionaire of Joe Lewis, took a major stake in the company. Evans's departure comes 11 days after M&B announced that its long search for a Chief Executive Officer was over, as it poached Alistair Darby from sector peer Marston's for the gig. Evans will step down from the board at the end of January 2013. At the same time as announcing Evans's exit, M&B said Doug McMahon, a nominated representative of Piedmont on the board, has appointed Richard McGuire to deputise for him on the board with effect from October 1st. Doug McMahon is based in the United States and is not able to attend every board meeting in person, the statement explained. Richard McGuire is currently Managing Director of Tavistock Europe and is a non-executive director of Timeweave - currently the subject of a bid from Joe Lewis - and DCD Media. He was previously a non-executive director of MAB and Bulgarian Property Developments.

Paper and packaging firm Mondi has raised half a billion euros through the issue of a Eurobond, due to mature in September 2020. A Eurobond is an international bond which is denominated in a currency other than those native to the country where it is issued. Proceeds from the sale of the bonds, which carry a coupon of 3.375%, will be used for general corporate purposes. Andrew King, Mondi's Chief Financial Officer, said: "We are delighted with the support for our bond issue from a wide group of European institutional investors. The success of this transaction further strengthens the group by diversifying our sources of funding and extending our debt maturity profile." The Eurobond will be issued under Mondi 's European Medium Term Note programme, which is rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB- by Standard and Poor's.

Dublin-based business services firm DCC has reached conditional agreement with BP to acquire BP Gas Nederland, the company's liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution business in the Netherlands, together with the trade and assets of BP's smaller LPG distribution business in north Belgium, which are together referred to as Benegas. The €24.5m acquisition is conditional on approval from the Netherlands Competition Authority and it is anticipated that the transaction will complete in late 2012. The cash consideration is on a cash free/debt free basis. The adjusted gross tangible operating assets of Benegas were approximately €15.4m at the 2011 year-end, while the adjusted net tangible operating assets were approximately €6.7m. During 2011, Benegas generated an adjusted operating profit of €4.0m. Based in the central Netherlands, Benegas is a supplier of LPG in the Netherlands. Benegas supplies around 55,000 tonnes per annum of bulk, cylinder and aerosol LPG to a broad range of industrial, commercial and domestic customers. It has 44 staff and outsources its distribution and its cylinder filling to third parties. Tommy Breen, Chief Executive of DCC, said today: "DCC has committed total expenditure of approximately €100m in recent weeks to the expansion of our LPG business through the acquisitions of BP's LPG business in Britain, the Statoil Fuel & Retail LPG business in Scandinavia and now Benegas. These acquisitions significantly increase the scale and geographic scope of DCC's LPG business in Europe."

The two companies may announce a deal by next month, said one of the people. United Spirits' shares have doubled this year, and yet profit in the three months ended June 30 rose by just 5.3% while sales did so by 6.3%. Over at Diageo meanwhile sales grew 24% in the country in the year through June 30th, the company said, driven by "strong momentum across the Scotch portfolio." A spokesman for United Spirits has denied the speculation. As of 15:09 shares of Diageo are falling by 0.7% to the 1708p mark.