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IP Group, which invests in intellectual property based businesses, is to pump money into a firm producing a webcam that monitors people's vital signs. The company, Oxehealth, has been spun out of Oxford University's Institute of Biomedical Engineering. IP Group's full £500,000 investment is subject to milestones being met but IP and Oxehealth make no bones about the fact the first priority is to commercialise what is currently only an experimental technology. The webcam monitors heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation and has already been tested at Oxford University Hospital's kidney unit.

Light-emitting diode (LED) specialist Dialight has announced changes to fill board posts left open by the promotion of its new Chairman. Bob Lambourne, currently Chairman of the Audit Committee, is to assume the role of Acting Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and Acting Senior Independent Director. Both positions were previously held by Bill Ronald, who was announced as Chairman at the start of September. This change had been made while a search for additional Non-Executive Directors to join the board was undertaken, the firm said. Former Chairman Harry Tee stepped down on 12th September after more than twenty years at the firm.

Logistics, warehousing and biomass group, Stobart, has announced the appointment of a new deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as part of a boardroom shake-up. Avril Palmer-Baunack, who joined the group after the acquisition of Autologic Holdings in June, has got the deputy CEO gig as well being promoted to the board. William Stobart has been re-appointed as an executive director and will also rejoin the board. Richard Butcher becomes Chief Executive Officer of Stobart Estates while retaining his Company Secretary role. Rodney Baker-Bates, Chairman of Stobart, said of the reshuffle: "With the recent acquisition of Autologic, we have been fortunate to secure the services of Avril Palmer-Baunack, who has a considerable depth of experience in the public company market and in the automotive sector in particular. "We are also pleased to welcome back to the board William Stobart, who can now devote more of his time to wider operational issues after completing much of the restructuring work in the Transport division."

The construction division's revenue in the financial year just finished declined to £924.8m from £956.9m the year before, while profit from operations also retreated, to £18.9m from £22.2m. The operating profit margin fell to 2.0% from the previous year's 2.4%. The long-term strategic aim of the group is to grow the construction business and the board believes the company is well positioned to take advantage of an economic and market recovery when it finally happens. "In the current conditions, and whilst markets remain difficult, we continue to focus on margins and cash, accepting lower revenues as we turn away work with unrealistic margins or risk profiles," the group revealed. "Against a background of challenging and uncertain economic conditions I am very pleased to report that we have exceeded the objectives of our three year transformational housebuilding plan, delivering a substantial increase in profits and return on capital. In addition, we have maintained a high quality construction order book," said Greg Fitzgerald, the firm's Chief Executive. "We have a strong balance sheet and a disciplined growth strategy with a clear focus on improving margins that positions us well to deliver further profitable growth in the new financial year and beyond," he added. Although many of the big numbers were announced in the July 10th trading statement, the market was still pleasantly surprised by the results, and marked the shares up 14p to 686p in the first hour of trading.

As previously revealed, the group completed 40% more homes in the financial year just ended, knocking up 3,039 units versus 2,170 the year before. Excluding joint venture operations, completions rose from 1,988 to 2,788, of which 2,272 were private housing completions at an average selling price of £250,000, up from £227,000 in the previous year. Affordable housing completions totalled 767, up from 724 the preceding year, with an average selling price of £104,000 (2011: £106,000). At the financial year end, the group's housebuilding division had secured all the land it will need for 2013 and around 87% of its 2014 requirements. The business also had "a good level" of sales in hand, at £273m. The construction division has secured 82% of its projected workload for 2013, while the current order book is more or less stable at £1.65bn, versus £1.75bn at the end of June 2011; of this, 44% was in the public sector, 42% was in regulated industries and 14% was in the private sector. "Importantly, 57% of our order book is in frameworks and 60% has been secured on a basis other than price competition, showing the success of our strategy," the group said.

Galliford Try, the house-building and construction firm, has made good on its pledge to dish out more dosh to shareholders, after a sparkling set of full year results. The group's need for cash is not as marked as it once was, so the board intends to pay out around half of retained earnings in the form of dividends. In the year to June 30th, earnings per share jumped 89% to 60.9p from 32.2p the year before, so that has paved the way for a full-year dividend of 30p, up 88% from the previous year's pay-out of 16p. Net cash at the end of June was positive at £20m, compared to net debt of £70m at the end of 2011 and net cash of £37m at the end of June 2011. Most of the key numbers for the financial year were flagged in the group's recent trading statement, but to recap: group revenue rose 17% to £1,504m from £1,284m in the previous year, and profit before tax surged 80% to £63.1m from £35.1m the year before, and ahead of the £60m target the group set itself three years ago when it tapped the market for £125.6m to fund a growth spurt. The housebuilding division saw profit from operations leap to £75.1m from £31.6m the year before, as revenue climbed to £636.7m from £388.5m. The operating margin hardened to 11.8% from 8.1% the previous year. Panmure Gordon had predicted a rise to 11.7%.

Engineering and construction group Kentz has been awarded a shutdown services and operations support contract with Exxon Neftegas, within the Sakhalin 1 development project in Far East Russia. The contract, which is valued at around $50m to Kentz, includes the provision of all personnel, equipment, transportation, procurement and front end execution planning, as well as the management of contractor and subcontractor resources. The project will be carried out through Kentz's Russian joint venture operating company, Kentz DEM, under which Kentz partners Sakhalin-based engineering and construction services company DalelectroMontazh. The shutdown is scheduled to take place in July 2013 and will peak at a total workforce of approximately 600 personnel. Michael Murphy, Chief Operating Officer of Technical Support Services for Kentz, said: "Kentz is delighted to have been chosen again to support Exxon Neftegas with its second major shutdown on the Sakhalin 1 development, following the delivery of a very successful first shutdown in late 2010. "Globally, our Technical Support Services business continues to grow and provide high quality, solution driven services to core clients such as ExxonMobil."

Olympic whipping boy G4S has bought another Brazilian company, making it one of the biggest security firms in the rapidly growing country. G4S has bought security provider Vanguarda Segurança e Vigilância for an undisclosed sum, although the firm noted the Sao Paulo firm has gross assets of £29m. Vanguarda provides security personnel, security systems and monitoring services and mobile patrols to sectors such as banking, transportation, commercial buildings, education, health and public services. The acquisition follows the purchase of Interativa Service in December 2011. The combined purchases make G4S a leader in both the security and facilities management markets in Brazil, in terms of revenue. G4S' said its strategy was to expand beyond security in selected large developing markets where the market opportunity is large and there is significant growth potential.

Financial and legal training provider Wilmington has reported increased profits as it successfully chased higher margin work over the 12 months to the end of June. Adjusted profits before tax for the full year were £14m, a rise of 4.6% on the prior year, with earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) up 10.2% to £16.5m. The EBITA margin rose from 17.8% in the prior year to 19.3% in 2011/12. In the publishing and information division the share of revenues generated by online and digital products increased to 76% of the total. Total group revenues climbed 1.8% to £85.3m. The proposed final dividend is 3.5p per share, keeping the full year figure at 7p per share. Mark Asplin, Chairman, said: "The legal training business is now more profitable and in better shape than it was twelve months ago, although market conditions affecting our client base remain difficult." "The phasing out of legacy publishing products will continue during the current year as the Group continues to invest in subscription based digital products and migrates its business away from print directories and services in which it does not own intellectual property." Wilmington's share price rose 8.8% in early trading and has now advanced 40% in the last 12 months.

Asset manager Schroders has said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Schroder Singapore, has completed the acquisition of 25 per cent of the share capital of Axis Asset Management Company, the Indian asset management business of Axis Bank. The transaction was made to enable Schroders to participate in the growth opportunity represented by the Indian unit trust market through a strategic relationship with a leading private sector bank. When the acquisition was first announced in April of this year, Chief Executive Michael Dobson said: "Longer term, in addition to distributing Axis AMC's funds internationally, there will be an opportunity to distribute Schroders funds in India through Axis' distribution network."

Commercial vehicle hiring firm Northgate has enjoyed a good run since it resumed dividend payments, back in June. Peel Hunt thinks the focus of Wednesday's results will be on the movements in fleet positions and hire rates.

"In our view, the focus of Redrow's results will be whether Bridgemere and Tosca confirm its 152p offer and whether the board accepts or rejects this offer. The offer represents 1x June 2012E NAV and if formalised, with the potential concert party owning over 54% of the share capital already, it is likely to go through in our opinion," Panmure Gordon predicted.

Redrow, which is currently the subject of an informal takeover approach from its Chairman Steve Morgan. The market expects the house builder to deliver profit before tax of £36.82m on revenue of £439.9m. Earnings per share (EPS) are seen surging to 8.40p from 5.23p last year. The group said it would return to paying dividends when it has reached an appropriate level of earnings, and that moment is close at hand, the market believes, with the consensus view being that a final dividend of 0.41p will be declared. Panmure Gordon is not among those which thinks dividends will be resumed this year. It expects the group to announce "the completion of 2,449 homes during the year (-6.7%) at an average selling price of £181,800 (+10.3% YOY). "Net margins are likely to have continued to increase to 9.3% (+240bps [2.4 percentage points]) as the group works new land into the system," the broker continued. Panmure Gordon is marginally ahead of consensus with its forecasts of profit before tax of £36.9m and EPS of 9.0p, while it has pencilled in a net asset value (NAV) per share figure of 152p.

After the recent gloomy trading statement from fashion retailer Next, ASOS shareholders might be a bit apprehensive ahead of the online clothes seller's interim management statement on Wednesday, but Panmure Gordon says not to worry. The broker recently raised its price target for the stock from 2179p to 2378p ahead of the trading statement, which will cover the three months to the end of August, the group's new fourth quarter (Q4) following its year-end change. "This quarter offers a very easy comparable for the UK, which is still ASOS's single most important market, representing 39% of retail sales in the nine months reported to date," Panmure Gordon notes. "Most recent UK online clothing sector trends are strong and we expect only a small currency related slowdown in the international sales growth run rate vs. Q3's +54%. We think that the company can report Q4 sales growth of 35.0% (consensus +30%), to £145.1m (+17.0% UK and +47.3% international)," the broker said. Peel Hunt, meanwhile, predicts UK sales growth of 12% year-on-year (yoy). "Most new season ranges are now priced more aggressively yoy," the broker observed.

Pitched in the software sector, investors could quibble Anite (AIE) is not a true mobile telecoms play, but it should be. Around 80% of last year's £123 million in sales stemmed from supplying mobile network ad handset testing kit and services, its real business, with just £20 million earned from its travel industry software side. The split could shift even more in the favour of wireless this year with demand accelerating thanks to global 4G network roll-outs. Handset testing revenue rose 54% last year, even though the company completed barely 15% of the 4G testing hardware it anticipates selling to existing customers to meet LTE demands. Ofcom's decision to allow Everything Everywhere to start early 4G services from this month should boost earnings since the next generation technology had been initially slated for roll-out in 2013. Anite's travel software arm is on the mend, too, as evidenced by a multi-year reservations system deal with holiday group Thomson (26 March). The unit is no longer a millstone around the £388 million cap's neck and its sale would trigger a significant re-rating and possibly a cash return to investors. Analysts believe the shares could hit 150p in the run-up to first half results for the six months to end October, likely in early December, implying 15% upside.

He added: "We continue to retain a very strong balance sheet position, with no debt. To complement anticipated organic growth, the Group is committed to seek further opportunities to enhance its product and customer base through selective acquisitions." Looking ahead Brady said it believes that the fundamental market drivers for its business remain strong. "Our customers continue to face increasing regulatory and accounting compliance requirements and a dramatic increase in electronic trading which require technology innovation. Our broad offering for the energy, metals and soft commodities markets is well positioned to address the needs of our diversified customer base." It added that whilst the macro outlook for banking continues to remain uncertain, banks now only represent approximately 10% of group revenues and is therefore not anticipated to have a material impact. Brady note that while the market as a whole is still a tough environment it has maintained good momentum in securing new business in the first half year which it hopes to continue in the second half year.

Commodity software solutions provider Brady reported a 37 per cent increase in half year revenue as it signed up eight new licence deals in what remains challenging economic conditions. The company, which provides trading, risk management and settlement solutions to the energy, metals and commodities sectors, said sales revenue climbed to £12.11m from £8.8m the same time a year earlier. EBITDA before exceptional items surged 43% to £1.78m while operating profit before exceptional items rose 37% to £0.75m. The group said a record eight new licence contracts were signed in the first half and ten in the year to date, up from six new licence contracts signed in the first half of 2011 and 14 in the full year. The average licence deal value was more than double in the first half of this year compared to the same half last year. Commenting on today's results, Chairman Paul Fullagar said: "The group has continued to deliver positive momentum, demonstrated by the signing of a record of eight new significant licence deals in what remain challenging economic conditions."

Akers Biosciences, which makes diagnostic and screening products, has raised $0.45m through an investment from US entrepreneur Thomas Knox. Knox has received 30m shares for his investment, which was made at 1.50 cents per Akers share, representing a small premium to the closing mid-market price of 1.2 cents (0.75p) on the last trading day before the placing announcement. In addition Knox has provided a $0.225m 3% promissory note in exchange for 10m preferred shares at 2.25 cents each. The preferred shares are convertible at any time into common shares, at the rate of five common shares for each preferred share, for an additional payment of $0.05 per converted Preferred Share. This conversion price is equivalent to $0.0145 per commons share and, if all the preferred shares were converted, would raise an additional $0.5m. The group has also reported revenues for the half year falling from $1.09m in the first half of 2011 to $0.787m this year. Losses have also widened from $0.838 to $1.02m.

WYG, a management and technical consultancy to the built and natural environment, says it will report a small operating profit in the first six months of the current year. The group is also poised to buy all three of WYG Ireland's subsidiaries in Northern Ireland, securing the jobs of around 90 employees in Belfast. WYG Ireland is going through a liquidation process.

Advanced Computer Software, which provides healthcare and business management software, says it expects revenues to have climbed by a fifth in the six months to the end of August. In a trading update ahead of its interim results the company says half-year revenues will come in "no less" than £56.7m, 20% ahead of the £47.3m reported at the same stage last year. Of that growth 10% is organic sales, a further 10% has been achieved through acquisitions. Adjusted earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EDITDA) rose 10% to £13.2m, of which 8% was organic growth. The adjusted EBITDA margin is expected at 23% following the purchase of Fabric Technologies for £4.6m in April. Advanced says its Health and Care unit is now the preferred supplier to more than 70% of the NHS 111 market while the group's target of 26,000 users of iNurse and iCare products by the year-end looks "achievable". Advanced's Chief Executive Vin Murria said: "We expect to deliver excellent organic revenue growth of 10% for the half year and are continuing to see good growth opportunities for our products and services in both the public and private sectors, despite the current economic environment."