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Utilities giant SSE is enjoying 'better growth at lower risks', according to UBS which upgraded its recommendation for the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy' on Friday morning. "Thanks to a well balanced asset mix and its UK location, SSE is well positioned to benefit from the UK's renewable generation growth," the broker said. The broker has raised its target price for the stock from 1,340p to 1,515p, saying that its strong 6.4% dividend yield should help to "put a floor under the company's share price". Nomura reduced its target prices for a group of iron ore producing stocks on Friday on the back of falling prices but has highlighted BHP Billiton as its sector preference.

Credit Suisse has reduced its target price for British Airways and Iberia owner International Consolidated Airlines Group, otherwise known as IAG, saying that consensus forecasts for 2013 look 'very vulnerable'. "We reduce our target price from 160p to 140p as valuation support dissipates for the stock, and remain 'neutral', however we expect the stock to remain weak in the short term as the market more fully factors in recent jet fuel price appreciation."

Following the half-year figures, which saw a doubling of the dividend to 3p, broker Numis upgraded its December 2012 profit forecast by 7% to £50 million and its 2013 estimate by 5% to £67.4 million. Earnings per share are expected to burgeon by an impressive 35% to 37.6p next year.

Kent-based housebuilder Bovis Homes is a buy for its south of England regional bias, burgeoning high quality land bank and compelling margin recovery story. Building out of town in villages and rural areas where employment levels are higher, the company also benefits from its expertise in constructing traditional family homes which command higher prices. Last week's (20 August) interims to June showed profits before tax had doubled to £16.2 million. Revenues jumped 27% to £170.3 million as Bovis sold a greater number of active sites and increased average selling prices. There is considerable scope for further profit upside and additional forecast upgrades as the FTSE 250 builder delivers more new site openings on higher margin land selling at increasingly healthy prices. Balance sheet strength will ensure the £668.3 million cap can continue to invest cash in more consented plots and longer-term strategic land so it can generate superior returns.

Broker Peel Hunt's £16.35p price target implies 12% possible upside. A prospective price/earnings (PE) ratio of 11.9 falling to 10.5 looks undemanding given Berkeley’s track record, profits potential and compelling yield attractions

An unrivalled land bank and powerful London presence provide the scope for further earnings forecasts upgrades at Berkeley (BKG). Since the £1.9 billion cap refined its strategy in early 2009 the Cobham-headquartered residential homes developer has invested heavily in new land in London and the South East to drive both growth and prodigious cash generation. Final results for the year to April (29 June) highlighted a 30% increase in the order book to over £1 billion as the London market remained buoyant. The company repeated its view it could increase pre-tax profits by 20% to £220 million in the year to April 2013 and the backlog suggests that target is beatable. The next round of profit estimate increases could begin with next week's annual general meeting update (5 September). On a longer-term basis the firm's plan to return £13 a share in cash to shareholders by September 2021 is a key reason to own its shares. Management intends to dish out £4.34 by September 2015 alone.

Cadogan Petroleum shares were down 7.4% at 9:29 and have fallen 58% in the last 12 months.

Declining production and growing losses have seen Ukraine-focused oil and gas company Cadogan Petroleum fall sharply in Friday morning trading. The group has announced losses for the six months to the end of June of $7.1m, worse than the $5.8m seen in the same period of the previous year. Resource stocks often lose money as companies invest to increase production, but unfortunately for Cadogan, production growth hasn't materialised. Average production has fallen from 424 barrels of oil equivalent per day last June to a mere 210 boepd this year. Cadogan is also involved in a lengthy legal battle with a firm called Global Process Systems dating back to 2009 under which it is owed $37.5m. So far it has only received $7.5m so has now had to take further action to recover the outstanding amount.

Torotrak, which makes energy conserving vehicle transmission systems, is saying goodbye to its long serving Chief Executive, Dick Elsy. Elsy, who has run the firm for 10 years has been appointed as the Chief Executive of a government initiative known as the "High Value Manufacturing Catapult". He will be replaced on September 28th by the current Finance and Commercial Director, Jeremy Deering. Elsy commented: "It's not an easy decision to leave Torotrak at such an exciting time when our plans are really starting to deliver, but I've been asked to take a leading role in the Government's aims to rebalance the UK economy towards high value manufacturing and it's something I want to do on a personal level."

The market was not impressed however; at 10:11, the stock had fallen 12.6%.

Molins, which produces cigarette making equipment and packaging machinery, has reported a steep fall in pre-tax profits but insists its performance will improve in the second half. Group sales in the six months to June 30th were £39.9m, down only slightly on the £38.8m the year before. However, underlying operating profit was just £0.8m compared to the £1.7m seen at the same point last year. Underlying earnings per share came in at 3.6p (2011: 6.3p) while net funds at June 30th were £5.7m down from the £7.1m reported at the end of 2011. On a brighter note, Molins says orders are 14% up on the prior year. Chief Executive Dick Hunter commented: "As indicated previously, group trading performance will be strongly second half weighted and the board's expectation of performance for the full year remains unchanged.

Powered access equipment rental firm Lavendon has reported revenues and profits significantly ahead of expectations for the first half of 2012 as it seeks to capitalise on its European and Middle East markets. The group is explicit in targeting the return on capital employed metric (ROCE), which rose from 7.9% in the first half of last year to 10% by the end of June this year. "It is our continued aim to drive ROCE to a sustainable level in excess of the cost of capital over the business cycle and we believe the Group is well positioned to achieve this," said Lavendon's Chief Executive Don Kenny. The group's total revenues for the six months to June 30th increased by 8% to £114.5m, reflecting an increase in rental revenues of 4% and a £4.2m increase in the sale of new and ex-rental fleet equipment. Underlying operating profits increased by 31% to £13.6m (2011: £10.4m), with margins improving to 11.9% (2011: 9.8%). Profit before tax came in at £9.5m, 55% ahead of 2011 while the interim dividend has been increased 102% to 0.75p per share. Kenny said that trading "since the half year end has been in line with our expectations and we are well positioned to deliver another year of financial progress and, in the medium term, significant value to our shareholders."

Nevertheless, the broker has raised its full year embedded value (EEV) forecast for the full-year, although the IFRS and EEV profit forecasts for the full year have been trimmed, to reflect the shortfall in Sweden. The broker's dividend forecasts have been left untouched. "We note that the cash generation in H1 of £12.4m more than covered the final dividend paid in the period of £12.1m," the broker added. Panmure Gordon is also a buyer, saying the company showed "remarkable reasilience" in the difficult investment markets, in which first quarter gains in equity markets were largely reversed in the second quarter, while UK bond yields continued to drift lower. "The UK business appears well prepared for the introduction of Solvency II with no increased capital requirements anticipated. It is in Sweden where we believe management faces its toughest challenge with policy attrition at a high level," Panmure Gordon predicts. Kettleborough told Sharecast that the company had looked at a number of acquisition opportunities, particularly in western Europe, "but none were of the size to make it worthwhile." Panmure Gordon suggests that the introduction of Solvency II, whenever that finally happens, may result in more interesting opportunities.

"We have seen a decline in new business but we are not alone in Sweden in seeing new business fall away. Swedes are cautious and though they have cash they are sitting on their hands at the moment in view of the economic climate," Kettleborough explained. More specifically to Chesnara, the group had some teething problems in Sweden switching to a new information technology system - "an operational hiccup" - which cheesed off many customers and caused some reputational damage, but with a new boss in place in Sweden the issue is getting sorted and the company is readying for a marketing push to lure customers old and new in to the fold, Kettleborough claimed. Total EEV for the group increased from £294.5m at the end of 2011 to £296.3m at 30th June, after allowing for the payment of the 2011 final dividend of £12.5m during the period. The company's stock market valuation is around £217m. Market reaction the figures was favourable, with the shares rising as high as 191.75p in the first three hours of trading before ebbing slightly; the day before the results the shares had closed at 185p. Canaccord Genuity, which rates the shares a "buy", said that Sweden had detracted from a good UK performance. "[Movestic's] AuM [assets under management] and market share have declined (albeit Q2 [second quarter] showed an improvement on Q1), and the new business value turned negative in H1 [first half]," the broker said. "While there was no cash contribution to Sweden in H1, sustainable IFRS break-even has been pushed back a year to end-2013, with a full year profit contribution not expected until 2015. A new CEO is in place, who is said to be having an impact, but, until there is a strong recovery in savings demand, we think the division could continue to struggle," is Canaccord's view.

The group said it continues to make progress on the Solvency II requirements set to be introduced to the insurance industry, with the group's solvency ratio at the end of June the same as it was at the end of 2011: 198%. The solvency ratio is a measure of a company's wherewithal to meet long-term obligations (liabilities). "Profits on both an IFRS and EEV basis were both pretty healthy compared to last year," Kettleborough said. IFRS is the standard International Financial Reporting Standards methodology, while EEV - European Embedded Value - is a standard used in the insurance industry. IFRS profit before tax, excluding exceptional items, for the six months ended 30th June increased by 145% to £9.3m from £3.8m the year before. On an EEV basis pre-tax profit for the half-year of £20.3m shot up from £0.4m the year before. "The UK business is chugging away, while in Sweden we have had some operational difficulties which we have made some progress in addressing," Kettleborough said. Pressed on what had gone wrong at Movestic, its Swedish life assurance company, Kettlebrough said there were two aspects to the Swedish situation

The legion of income investors with holdings in Chesnara will be pleased to see that the insurance company has once again upped its interim dividend, to 6.1p from 5.95p the year before. It may be unusual to highlight a dividend payment in a company's interim results, but when a stock yields more than 9% that seems a sensible place to start, a view echoed by company Graham Kettleborough, who acknowledged the importance of the company's pay-out to its shareholders. "We are a dividend stock, a favourite of self-invested personal pension plans," he said to Sharecast. "The increase is in line with what we normally do," he added. Although the company's policy is for steady rather than sensational dividend increases, the yield has somehow risen to a level which is normally only seen on companies regarded as certainties to cut or cancel dividend payments; that is not the case at Chesnara, where the board is confident about future dividend flows. "Cash generation in the first half of this year compares very favourably with last year," Kettleborough said. Net cash generation this time round totalled £12.4m, versus £6.7m in the first half of last year.

Densitron Technologies, an information display systems manufacturer, has reported a 6.2% decline in revenue for the half year ended June 30th, to £10.6m (2011: £11.3m). Pre-tax profit fell from £0.5m to £0.04m, while more positively the order book increased by 4.5% to £11.7m (2011: £11.2m). Earnings per share of 0.52p turned to a loss of 0.11p. The interim dividend was maintained at 0.2p per share.

Brady, a provider of trading, risk management and settlement solutions to the energy, metals and commodities sectors, has said that it is in a payment dispute over software with a customer that it signed in 2011. The firm said the customer has made payments to Brady totalling £288,000, but has "not paid a number of further amounts in line with its contractual obligations". Discussions over the payments have broken down. Brady said it believes that the software has been delivered and it has been accepted by the client, adding that it "will consider all possible legal avenues for collection of the outstanding amounts".

Exillon Energy, the Russia focused oil and gas firm, has reported rises in earnings and production as operational changes at its sites in Timan-Pechora and West Siberia have started to pay off. Oil production increased 48% in the six months to the end of June, compared to the same period of last year, to 2.1m barrels. Earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 98% from $7.8m to $15.5m. Exillon had $138.5m in the bank by the end of June; including debts, the net cash position was $38.3m. Operationally the group has lots to be pleased about, with drilling speeds at the West Siberia site now down to around 20 days. Mark Martin, Exillon's Chief Executive, said: "The completion of our oil treatment and power generation facilities combined with our new entry point into (the) Transneft pipeline network is expected to further improve EBITDA per barrel going forward." He added: "Our new strategy of drilling wells at a 60 degree angle has materially increased each well's exposure to net pay resulting in higher average production levels from these wells."

Car dealer Vertu Motors, which saw its share price shoot up in the first half of August, has confirmed it is in talks with the Co-operative Motor Group in connection with the potential acquisition of three dealership locations. This potential transaction is subject to agreement of contract terms, due diligence and various third party approvals.