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Cairn Energy: AlphaValue downgrades to sell.

Hammerson: Credit Suisse lifts target from 450p to 500p, outperform rating kept.

Spirent Communications: JPMorgan Cazenove reduces target from 171p to 143p, neutral rating kept; Investec cuts target from 190p to 175p, buy rating kept.

Smith & Nephew: Jefferies raises target from 740p to 780p, buy rating kept.

Shire: JPMorgan Cazenove cuts target from 2,360p to 2,200p, overweight rating kept.

Schroders: JPMorgan Cazenove ups target from 1,650p to 1,684p, overweight rating kept.

SABMiller: Societe Generale downgrades to hold.

RSA: Nomura cuts target from 118p to 115p, neutral rating kept.

RPS: Jefferies reiterates buy rating and 275p target.

Rightmove: BarCap ups target from 1,400p to 1,850p, equal weight rating kept

Morgan Crucible: Goldman Sachs downgrades to neutral.

Ladbrokes: Jefferies keeps hold rating and 160p target.

Latchways' share price has retreated from its 12-month high of 1,238p, but at 990p it could be in for further falls. Broker N+1 Brewin recently downgraded current year forecasts by 5 per cent to pre-tax profits of £10.9m, giving EPS of 70.1p. That puts the shares on a PE ratio of 14 times - arguably a punchy rating for a business that, despite its niche, basically sells safety harnesses in a construction downturn. Exposure to the euro only makes the picture worse.......BUT AS ALWAYS DYOR GL

Latchways' main source of income is its Safety Products division, where sales were up 5 per cent and operating profits rose 12 per cent to £9.1m in 2011-12, contributing over 90 per cent of the group profits. The other division, Safety Services, which installs Latchways products, was less inspiring - revenues were 8 per cent up in 2011-12, but operating profits fell by 25 per cent to £0.9m. Inventories have been backing up as well, with an increase of £1.6m, some 43 per cent during 2011-12, to finish at £5.4m. Latchways isn't concerned, though. Its balance sheet is strong with £8m of net cash and its bosses say the stock allows them to respond quickly to customer requests; besides, they remain confident that new technology such as the Personal Rescue Device can pull them through, adding that the product is attracting strong interest. Chairman Paul Hearson is confident of a strong year in 2012-13, saying that the levels of prospects and opportunities are at an all-time high.

Working at heights is a dangerous occupation and support services company Latchways has created a niche industry out of making sure that, for workers who do slip, the worst doesn't happen. Management hopes that new technology in fall-protection systems will defy the downturn, but shares in the company could be facing a drop of their own as sales slow in the US and the weakness of the euro is set to hit the European business. With inventory on the rise and management pointing towards a slow start to the year, we think it's time to sell the shares. After showing resilience, the US economy is showing signs of faltering; for the three months to June, growth was 1.5 per cent, down from 2.4 per cent in the first quarter. This is bad news for Latchways' US business, which in the year to March was already feeling the pinch - sales were down 30 per cent to £4m. The specific reason for the slump was that the US military decided not to repeat a contract for the new Wingrip product; but US defence spending is likely to stay under pressure. Yet the US only accounts for 10 per cent of group sales. More concerning is the weakness of the euro because a third of Latchways' sales - £13.9m in 2011-12 - are made in Europe. Management says that, despite efforts to mitigate the impact: "The current crisis in the eurozone will have some adverse impact on margins." The situation is compounded by dismal confidence readings from the eurozone; ominously, the Markit Purchase Managers Index for Germany recently showed the fastest falls in confidence for three years.

BSkyB's scale gives it the ability to outmuscle rivals with new content and services, while bringing in the cash that can be used to improve services still further. That's why BSkyB has both defensive and growth virtues and it explains why News Corp may well have been happy to pay 800p a share. The share price is still 10 per cent below that level and, rated at 13 times forecast earnings for the year just begun,

That scale underpins BSkyB's ability to invest both in acquiring new sports coverage - such as an enhanced deal for Formula 1 motor-racing that snapped up half the BBC's contract with the F1's rights holders - and in a wide array of new content and services. For example, a large chunk of last year's £457m capital spending was to 'unbundle' telephone exchanges to improve its broadband network. Of its subscribers, 3.4m now take its 'triple play' package (TV, internet and telecoms), 21 per cent up on the year. The average number of products per subscriber rose from 2.5 to 2.7 in 2011-12, lifting average revenue per user £10 to £548, despite a price freeze. Importantly, BSkyB has also responded to the rapid growth of download TV services, such as LoveFilm and Netflix, with the launch of its own 'over-the-top' service, NOW TV, at a cost of £30m. The new service is important - it allows BSkyB to target the 14m UK households that don't subscribe to pay TV. Yet BSkyB's cash-generative qualities mean there's plenty left for shareholders. Revenue growth in 2011-12 may have been a modest 4.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis - well below the 16 per cent reported in 2010-11 - but cash profits increased 12 per cent to £1.56bn. That underpinned the return of £1.1bn to shareholders in dividends and share buy-backs; £100m is still to be returned under a £750m tranche of buy-backs, and a new £500m programme is likely to be approved at the forthcoming annual meeting. And management has kept its promise to pay 50 per cent of net profit in dividends, which rose 9 per cent last year.

However, City analysts reckon that BSkyB's stranglehold on sport means it will be able to horse trade with BT, whose priority is to get the best content to support its roll-out of superfast broadband. And the completion of the auction for football rights means that at least investors know the financial impact. Besides, analysts point out that the 8 per cent cut to BSkyB's trading profits, which the extra £230m cost would represent, is likely to be offset by cost savings elsewhere. Indeed, efficiencies meant a 6 per cent cut in operating costs last year, even though subscriber numbers climbed by 312,000 to 10.6m.

Lord Leveson wrapped up his long-running enquiry into media ethics last month, an investigation that media baron Rupert Murdoch will be glad to see the back of. His News of the World was at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal that sparked the enquiry and meant the end of his ambitions for News Corp, the main Murdoch company, to buy the 60.8 per cent of British Sky Broadcasting it didn't already own. BSkyB's shares have spent much of the year since the deal collapsed in the doldrums. That's largely because News Corp won't be able to mount a bid while the Murdochs remain in control. That means that the bid premium - BSkyB said it would't sell for less than 800p a share - has evaporated. But other concerns have dogged the shares; in particular, worries about the escalating cost of the rights to televise English football and the growing willingness of competitors, such as BT, to challenge for the rights. Indeed, the £760m a year BSkyB will pay for a package of 116 Premier League football matches marks a 40 per cent increase on the price of its current deal. Overall cost inflation is closer to 70 per cent given that BSkyB won fewer 'first pick' matches this time around. BSkyB got 20 first picks, down from 38 in the previous auction. BT, meanwhile, got 38 matches, including 18 first picks.

Paragon has shown remarkable resilience considering that at one point it was reduced to collecting money on existing loans and not much else. True, the dividend is a shadow of its former self - it nudged 29p per share in 2006-07 - but Paragon never axed the payout. Besides, buying the shares is about staying in for the long haul as the price catches up with underlying net asset value (currently it's 30 per cent below) and hoping for a kicker if and when the eurozone's debt crisis eases.