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AGA Rangemaster, the maker of upmarket cookers and kitchen appliances, is looking to overseas markets for growth after weakness in established regions pulled revenues lower in the first half. As such, the group decided not to pay an interim dividend; it paid shareholders 0.8p per share at the half-year stage in 2011. AGA said that its decision was part of the agreement with the trustee of the its main pension scheme to restructure the financing arrangement for the scheme through to the end of 2015. "The aim is to provide medium-term clarity and stability," the firm said. The group, which had already announced last month that both revenues and profits would be lower year-on-year, reported revenues from continuing operations of £119.2m in the six months to June 30th, down slightly from £121.4m the year before. AGA said that the initial signs of market improvements seen in the first quarter were not sustained resulting in a further period of weak demand. Profit before tax slumped from £4.2m to £1.6m, while basic earnings per share fell from 4.3p to 1.9p.

Surface engineering specialist Hardide said since its update in March, momentum has continued and it now expects revenue for the year to exceed previous expectations. The group, which provides metal coatings used for valves, pumps, oil and gas, aerospace and pharmaceutical industries, said much of the momentum generated in the first half of the year has continued in the second half, though not at the same level. As such revenue for the year will be at least 45% higher than the previous year and the group will exceed market expectations for the year ending 30 September 2012. Hardide said it continues to add new customers and develop new applications for existing customers. It added that investment in business and market development also continues and the group's pipeline across the key markets of oil & gas, flow control, aerospace and advanced engineering continues to advance. Hardide's new CEO, Philip Kirkham, is expected to take up his role 3 September 2012.

Mouchel's expectation is that the administrators will immediately sell the company's assets to a newly incorporated company, somewhat in the manner of double-glazing companies since time immemorial. This newly incorporated company will be owned by affiliates of the company's existing lenders, namely Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays, and management. Plan B should see employees, customers and suppliers kept sweet but existing shareholders, the statement pointedly notes, will receive nothing for their shareholdings.

Trading in the shares of Mouchel Group has been suspended after shareholders voted against the company's restructuring plan. The financially troubled outsourcing firm announced restructuring proposals at the beginning of August which would see shareholders getting just a penny for each of their shares after the firm agreed a debt-for-equity swap with its lenders. Mouchel said when it announced its restructuring plans that it estimated that it would have until the end of the month before it would be in breach of the covenants on its existing lending facilities, which would then require the immediate repayment of those facilities with money which Mouchel does not have. Now that the shareholders have kyboshed the restructuring idea, Mouchel is holding urgent talks with its lenders, pension trustees and the pensions regulator about where to go from here. Once the terms of plan B have been finalised, the board intends to call in the administrators to safeguard the businesses within the Mouchel group, as well as protect the interests of the group's employees, customers and suppliers.

Faroe Petroleum, an independent oil and gas company, has drawn a blank on the first exploration well drilled in the production licence area 477 in the Norwegian Sea. Test drilling on the 6506/11-9 S Cooper well found oil but it could not be brought to the surface. The well will now be plugged and abandoned. Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: "Although the drill stem test results on the Garn formation were disappointing, we take encouragement from the discoveries made at multiple horizons and that the poor flow characteristics of the Jurassic reservoir observed in this well are not seen in the other nearby producing fields. "We will continue to evaluate the large amount of data that has been collected in the Cooper well to try to resolve why the Garn formation is tight and whether this is likely to be a local or a field wide reservoir phenomenon. Our high impact drilling campaign continues with the North Uist well with BP as operator, West of Shetlands and we look forward to spudding the Spaniards well in the UK with Premier Oil as operator in October 2012."

Shares in North Midland Construction fell after the company's first half revenues dropped from £91.3m to £74.9m year-on-year after significant losses in the building and civil engineering division. Profit before tax fell from £1.3m to £0.1m, while earnings per share plunged from 12.52p to 0.23p. The proposed dividend was slashed from 2.5p to 1.5p. The firm's Chairman described the results as "disappointing".

Timeweave, the holding company of a group which owns a 50% holding in Amalgamated Racing (AMRAC), posted a slight rise in half year revenue, from £14.27m to £14.35m following a period of stable trading, while pre-tax profit increased from £3.8m to £4.3m. Total earnings per share increased from 1.3p to 1.4p. Cash and equivalents at the period end increased from £28.2m to £33.2m year-on-year. No dividend was paid.

NWF Group has appointed Brendon Banner as its new Group Finance Director as of November, replacing Johnathan Ford who is leaving at the end of September to take over the position of Chief Financial Officer of HomeServe. Brendon joins from William Hare Group, a structural steel engineering and fabrication group. He has been in industry for the last nine years, including senior finance positions at Shop Direct Group.

Share tip summary On the positive side, Abcam is not going to run out of cash and the fragmentation of its market can also benefit the company by allowing it build up scale in a variety of products. In the medium term, though, the direction of public spending will determine its performance and, given current uncertainties, a rating of 27 times forecast earnings for 2012-13 (see table) looks expensive

Abcam's bosses have recognised this imbalance and have tried to compensate by broadening the group's product range. The acquisition of Epitomics this year for $170m (£107m), will open up a new area for Abcam in custom-designed antibodies. That may help, but City analysts fret that it's not clear how Abcam will integrate this more specialised area into its existing business, which is essentially an online distribution service that prizes flexibility. The acquisition may have helped to shore up the business, hence a share re-rating earlier this year, but broker Canaccord Genuity reckons that Abcam's underlying sales growth slowed in the second half of 2011-12 by almost one percentage point to 11.5 per cent, indicating difficulties especially in the US. Other worries about Abcam revolve around the ease with which its business model can be copied. In theory, anyone savvy enough to start a website, lease a warehouse, engage a regulatory consultant and look up the number for DHL can launch a similar enterprise, which is possibly why the medical distribution market has remained stubbornly fragmented. And fragmented it is likely to stay, with some of the bigger players opting to return cash to shareholders rather than fork out for acquisitions.

Abcam is a consistently successful distributor of the proteins used in medical research, which it maintains via a vast library of molecules that can be accessed and ordered over the internet. Simultaneously, its shares are highly rated compared with those of medical-services companies. This makes a recommendation to sell them a natural 'against the herd' trading idea. However difficult it is in practice, shorting Abcam's shares can be rewarding, as our successful sell tip just over a year ago showed. That's because the company's high rating is often vulnerable when news turns less positive, particularly on the outlook for public sector spending. And, interestingly for traders, the set of circumstances that undermined Abcam's share price last year look set to be repeated as both the EU crisis and the impasse over the US Federal budget add to an uncertain outlook. The basic worry is that spending by research agencies in Europe and the US will come under further pressure as budget cuts bite. This was confirmed by cautious statements in July from medical-testing equipment suppliers Sigma-Aldrich and Qiagen. The problem first arose last year when spending by various US public health institutes began to slow as the effect of stimulus spending wore off and, without a second tranche of money to boost the sector, spending on research will start to slow this year. That effect could be compounded by the concern that Abcam is especially dependent on public spending to generate sales as pharmaceuticals companies have devoted much of the past three years to slashing their research and development spending.

Goodbody estimates that opportunities in agronomy could fuel underlying EPS growth of about 7 per cent a year and reckons that acquisitions could double that pace. However, despite its track record and continued good progress in developing the agronomy business, investors don't seem too interested. That may partly be to do with the cyclicality of the farming industry and Origin's exposure to the euro. Nor does it help that it's difficult to deal in the shares - the very limited free float means the normal market size is for less than £1,000-worth. That's a result of ARYZTA's 71 per cent holding but, given the lack of fit between the two businesses, it's likely that the baker will reduce its holding - possibly even selling to a predator. Meanwhile, the single-figure rating and half-decent yield on a dividend covered four times are reasons enough to buy.......but adyor gl all

When Origin demerged from ARYZTA, which still owns a 71 per cent stake, its core business was fertiliser distribution; in addition it had - and has - associates operating in fish feed and fish oil, animal feeds and branded Irish grocery products. It is to this uninspiring but stable collection of interests that leading cereal-agronomy business Masstock was added, plus two smaller agronomy firms, UAP and Rigby Taylor, which operate in fruit and vegetables, and lawn care. These acquisitions provide Origin with opportunities to sell more fertiliser, but their main attraction is the growth potential of agronomy. Origin's agronomy arm advises farmers how to improve crop yields and sells suitable products with a mark up to reflect the advice. As farms in the UK, Origin's main market, continue to consolidate there should be growing demand for this service. And, as increasingly sophisticated advice is required - due to factors such as regulation and climate change - market leaders, such as Origin, can expect to win market share. As the market develops there could be scope for Origin to increase its consultancy work, perhaps even become farm managers. However, overseas expansion may offer the best opportunities. Initially, Origin is focused on eastern Europe, where there are many large farms but crop yields are low. According to Goodbody, in Origin's most established overseas market, Poland, about three times more land than in the UK is devoted to crop production yet yields are about half the UK's. Given Origin's sound finances - year-end net debt is forecast to be the same as cash profits - overseas expansion could be aided by acquisition. Besides, Origin looks more likely to gain highly-profitable farm-management work in these less-developed markets, which have more potential to attract institutional investors than the mature UK market.

Like Syngenta, Dublin-headquartered Origin Enterprises hopes to benefit from the need to drive crop yields higher with its work in the agricultural science of agronomy, but its share rating seems stuck in the past. Stockbroker Goodbody estimates that agronomy will account for nearly two-thirds of Origin's operating profit this year. But the company is a relatively new entrant into the field via the acquisition of Masstock in 2008. Before that deal, designed to move Origin into higher-value work, the business had been around for more than a century, mostly as a part of Irish company IAWS, during which time it built itself into a leading UK and Irish supplier to farmers. The change in focus followed the merger of IAWS with baking giant ARYZTA, and Origin's demerger from the enlarged business in 2006. While the changes made since then should have turned Origin into a more attractive investment proposition, the share rating suggests investors haven't caught on.

Share tip summary Workspace offers a combination of asset-backed income and growth that is rare in today's equity market. Trading at 24 per cent below forecast NAv, the shares are a bargain but as always dyor gl all.......

Yet it's vital to remember that London is not in recession. That has helped Workspace report a steady recovery in both occupancy levels and rents since 2009. Like-for-like occupancy rates rose from 86 per cent to 88 per cent over the financial year to 31 March, and by the end of June, at 88.4 per cent, were within a whisker of their 2008 peak. The average rent has also been rising. This trajectory is crucial for two reasons. First, it gives Workspace a capacity for growth that most London-focused property companies lack, with their 97-98 per cent occupancy rates. Workspace has always cited 90 per cent occupancy as a level at which it can increase rents steeply; that level is rapidly approaching. Rising occupancy should sustain dividend increases, while rental growth is the key to the valuation gains that drive net asset value (NAV). Second, the strength of tenant demand should ensure the success of its ambitious refurbishment and extension programme. The group has planning consent for 704,000 sq ft of new or refurbished space in 14 properties; eight projects are under way, with two due to complete this summer. Where it makes sense, Workspace also partners housebuilders to deliver residential projects on redundant but well-located industrial sites. It has two such projects under way - in Highbury and Wandsworth - and has just submitted a planning application for another in Bermondsey. One concern is how Workspace will fund its refurbishments; at 41 per cent, its loan-to-value ratio is comfortable but leaves limited room for manoeuvre. New chief executive James Hopkins seems keen to sell industrial assets with little growth potential and invest in the higher-value office portfolio, which seems sensible as long as the dividend remains covered. Meanwhile, the group has nearly £80m of undrawn debt and cash left over from a fundraising.

Workspace is a London-focused property company. So it benefits from the strength of London's economy and, to a lesser extent, the London property market. However, its shares trade at a huge discount to London specialists such as Derwent or Shaftesbury - and that looks unfair. Of course, Workspace is not - like the companies just mentioned - a play on the West End, where property has become a safe-haven asset for overseas investors. It owns a scattering of offices in off-centre locations, such as Southwark and Clerkenwell, which contribute about 30 per cent of its rent-roll. It also controls a long tail of industrial properties in the suburbs, which certainly don't benefit from the rarefied dynamics of London's inner core. Moreover, its tenant base - small businesses - is far more fragmented than the corporate occupiers of most central London offices. That, theoretically, exposes it to the wave of bankruptcies expected in a recession. Partly for this reason, Workspace almost went to the wall during the 2008-09 property crash.

Share tip summary Some investors may want to link it to an investment in CLS's ordinary shares on which no dividends are paid, thus generating potential to combine income and capital growth.

The company's existing capital structure is heavily weighted towards bank debt, with a syndicate of 19 banks holding the debt, along with the Swedish retail bond. The company's average interest rate is 3.74 per cent and payments are covered 3.4 times by earnings. The rent roll on £900m of property is £66.5m. In relation to the underlying assets, the bond will count as senior debt, so it ranks ahead of equity but is unsecured against the company's buildings, which are held as security for bank debt. CLS's bosses have shaped the UK bond as a "mirror image" of the Swedish retail bond. That indicated that the issue price and coupon would initially generate a yield between 5.5 per cent and 6 per cent. But the UK bond differs from its Swedish counterpart in one significant respect - its coupon is fixed (at 5.5 per cent, paid in semi-annual amounts), whereas the Swedish bond will most likely fall. That won't matter for investors who plan to hold the asset until maturity. Their risks will be those of exposure to inflation, default by the borrower and, in effect, exposure to the euro and Swedish krona via CLS's property assets. However, investors will be able to take the income tax-free because the bond will be eligible for inclusion in an individual savings account (subject, of course, to the usual Isa constraints).

CLS is the latest property company after Primary Health Properties to try to convince retail investors to buy a single company bond and Investors Chronicle got first sight of the details at the bond's launch. For income seekers, it looks promising - with a yield at launch of 5.5 per cent. The company owns high-yielding commercial property in the UK, Germany, Sweden and France and its bosses are looking to diversify its funding. Given the demand for any sort of yield, it should attract interest for a bond sale mooted at the £50m mark. The bookbuilding process means the company is cagey about announcing the bond's coupon (the dividend). However, it was never likely to stray far from the yield of a bond that CLS issued in Sweden. The basic approach to assessing the bond is similar to assessing the value of CLS's shares, which we suggested buying at 670p (22 June 2012). The difference is that bondholders' returns are defined upfront. So the question is whether CLS can generate enough cash to pay the coupon and eventually to pay back the debt. For starters, the balance sheet must be in decent shape. Currently, CLS's net debt is quite high, but its loan-to-value ratio stands at just 56 per cent; shareholders' funds are close to £380m and cash resources come in at £123m. That equates to sound financing, which partly stems from the decision taken in 2006 to sell properties amid signs of the market overheating. Consequently, CLS avoided the worst of the downturn by selling 40 per cent of its portfolio at peak prices.