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Vernalis, a development stage pharmaceutical company, saw first half losses halve on the back of a sharp rise in revenues, driven by a significant increase in collaboration income. Loss for the period was slashed to £3.2m (2011: £7.0m) on revenues of £5.9m, up 365 from £4.3m for the same period the previous year. Revenues comprised income of £2.0m (2011: £2.1m) from the supply of frovatriptan active pharmaceutical ingredient to Menarini and collaboration income (including deferred revenue) of £3.9m (2011: £2.2m). Frovatriptan revenue for the first six months of 2012 decreased by 9% over the period due largely to a weakening of the euro against sterling over the period. Collaboration income in 2012 increased by £1.7m due to a €0.5m milestone from one of the Servier collaborations, together with revenue from additional research collaborations secured at the beginning of 2012. Cost of sales for the six months was flat at £0.9m and included supplies of migraine treatment frovatriptan and the continued amortisation of the frovatriptan intangible asset.

"When the full range of StatPro Revolution Plus modules have been developed, fully replacing StatPro Seven, it will form, together with StatPro Revolution, a single integrated solution to manage the computation of performance and distribution of portfolio analysis and compliance on any scale to any type of asset manager." Net debt was reduced from £5.15m to £3.92m year-on-year, while the interim dividend was increased from 0.75p to 0.8p. The firm added: "We believe we are unique in this vision and remain confident that our investment in new cloud technology will ensure that StatPro has a bright future. Current business levels are satisfactory and we believe that we will meet market expectations for the full year. "We have made good progress on building our customer base for StatPro Revolution, with client numbers increasing to 111 (2011: 16) and recurring revenue of £1.02m (2011: £0.16m) as at end June 2012."

StatPro Group, a provider of portfolio analytics and data solutions for the global asset management industry, saw its profit before tax decline by a fifth in the six months to the end of June following an exceptional charge as part of its restructuring during the period. Revenues grew 3.0% during the period, from £15.61m to £16.08m, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation leapt 24% from £2.89m to £3.58m Reported profit before tax dropped 20% from £1.79m to £1.44m, while adjusted pre-tax profit climbed 29% from £2.07m to £2.68m, pushed higher by a strong uptake of StatPro Revolution, achieving sales in all regions of the world. At constant currency rates, profit before tax would have been higher by around £0.16m. Sales for StatPro Seven remained steady in the first half of 2012, with renewal levels at 94%, and further sales are expected in the second half of the year.

coastal Energy rose five per cent on Wednesday morning after an evaluation of its onshore and offshore reserves in Thailand returned positive results. An independent interim report concluded: - Offshore proved reserves increased by 30% to 81m barrels of oil (mmbbl) - Offshore proved plus probable reserves increased by 60% to 127.7 mmbbl - Total company proved reserves increased by 26% to 87.9m barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) - Total company proved plus probable reserves increased by 45% to 149.1 mmboe Randy Bartley, President and CEO, said the firm was extremely pleased with the results, with its offshore Bua Ban North site continuing to surprise to the upside. "The core analysis gave us a lot of valuable information about the reservoir and helped us to better formulate our field wide development plan," he said. "We are looking to contract a second rig so we can execute the Bua Ban North development while continuing our exploration program and expansion into Malaysia." The company said two horizontal development wells and two water injection wells had been drilled at Bua Ban North, which would help to bring production from Bua Ban North back up to higher levels.

Spark Ventures is to sell the on-going business of Aspex Semiconductor to Ericsson and return the proceeds to Aspex shareholders. When combined with loan repayments to Spark by Aspex, the deal could net Spark over £7m. "The board continues to expect that another substantial return of cash to shareholders will be made during the Autumn, although the exact timing of such a repayment is largely dependent upon the timing of receipts from Aspex," Spark added.

It wasn't much of a welcome for the new Chief Executive at Oxford Advanced Surfaces, the AIM listed technology developer, as shares dropped on his appointment. The company's value fell 2.6% after the firm said Meldrum, currently Business Development Director at IQE, would be joining Oxford in October.

Lok'nStore, the AIM listed self-storage company, said it had extended lease on one of its existing stores by ten years on improved terms. The agreement will produce an annual saving of around £60,000 in rent and service charge over the coming five years, increasing the operating income of the store by approximately 25%, the firm said. Investors liked the sound of that and shares rose 3.5%.

China Food Company, a manufacturer of cooking and dipping sauces, said it was proceeding with the sale of its animal feed business for $16m. The firm said the first payment of $4.5m was now expected by mid-August due to unexpected regulatory delays on the part of the buyer, Wisehand Planning. Following the announcement of the delay shareholders pushed CFC's shares down 1%.

"Next has extremely strong sales channels, with online and the Next Directory genuinely complementing the physical stores," said James McGregor, director of retail consultants at Retail Remedy. "The glorious summer we've had has also helped the retailer out, as people order from home rather than venture outside." On top of this McGregor said the success of the company's online and Directory arms reflected the trust people had in the Next brand. "They know that the things they order will be of the quality they expect - that's no mean achievement on behalf of the retailer," he said.

And it didn't stop there. Next added that it was positive about its full year performance. "We are modestly increasing and narrowing our sales and profit guidance ranges for the full year," the company said. "We now anticipate brand sales growth of +2.0% to +4.5% and group profit before tax of £575m to £620m (previously £560m to £610m)." Dark times It has been a miserable first half of the year for retailers as economic fears and terrible weather have kept shoppers away from their stores. A recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found the number of insolvencies in the retail industry is growing very rapidly. So it's telling that Next's 0.2% rise in high street sales was the cause for such joy. Analysts said the secret of Next's success was clinging stubbornly to the middle ground, with a strong focus on core strengths and core customers, rather than chasing the value end of the market.

It's hardly surprising that retailer Next has been amongst the strongest risers on the FTSE 100 today. It's about as hard to find a retailer trumpeting strong results as it is a solitary ray of sunshine at the moment. Yet this is precisely what Next did this morning, announcing strong growth in its online and catalogue business. Investors doffed their rain-sodden caps to the firm and pushed shares up over 7%. Beating expectations Total sales for the first half were up 4.5% against last year, Next said, topping its own prediction of growth between 1% and 4%. Like-for-like sales came in at 2%, beating some analysts' expectations of a rise of just 1%. Sales at its online and catalogue Next Directory arm were up 13.3% on last year making up for high street retail sales which crept up just 0.2%. The firm said sales from new space offsetting lower sales from like for like stores.

Edinburgh-based oil and gas giant Cairn Energy said a North Sea well in which it has a minority interest has been abandoned. The firm said that Wintershall Norge AS, operator of production licence 370, had completed drilling of wildcat well 33/6-4, which was found to be dry. Cairn has a 30% interest in the well, which has now been permanently plugged and abandoned. The objective of the well had been to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks from the Paleocene Age. The well was the first exploration well in production licence 370. The announcement did not perturb investors who pushed Cairn's shares up 1% in early trading.

Positive Points: Shire delivered strong results in the second quarter, with overall product sales up 16%. Sales were driven by Vyvanse (up 43% to $266 million), Vpriv (up 31% to $83 million), Intuniv (up 16% to $69 million) and Firazyr (up to $32 million from $6 million in Q2 2011). Vyvanse sales grew strongly as a result of higher prescription demand (up 19% compared to Q2 2011) due to an increase in Vyvanse’s market share and growth in the US ADHD market. Shire announced our plans to invest in a new campus in the San Diego area, including a second manufacturing facility for its Regenerative Medicine business. Shire is one of the U.K.'s largest pharmaceutical companies by market capitalisation having grown rapidly in recent years, due largely to its specialisation in treatments for rare diseases.

negative Points: The successful roll out of Vyvanse is seen as crucial to maintain Shire's ADHD franchise. Any significant shortfall in the long term performance of Vyvanse may be detrimental to Shire. In June US regulators approved a generic cut-price version of Adderall XR from Swiss drugmaker Actavis. Litigation risk remains in a number of potential products associated within the group's Human Genetic Therapies (HGT) business. Continuing execution with respect to pipeline drug approvals is required to support longer-term performance forecasts

Financial Highlights: Net profit in the three months to 30 June rose to $237.8 million from $205.5 million in the same period last year, slightly below market expectations of $255 million. Revenue rose 14% from a year earlier to $1.2 billion, driven by a 43% rise in sales of ADHD treatment Vyvanse. The Board has recommended an interim dividend of US 2.73 cents per share.

Second quarter results: Pharmaceutical company Shire published a resilient rise in profits, boosted by a solid performance by its attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) treatments in the US and by new patient demand for its enzyme replacement therapies. The company said it is on track to deliver double digit full year earnings growth this year, although this will be impacted by foreign exchange movements on some of it products, added the company. We believe that the current market consensus opinion of a strong buy will remain in place for the time being.

Shire plc is an international specialist pharmaceutical company which in-licenses and develops early stage projects for its own marketing in the major markets around the world. Registered in Jersey, headquartered in Ireland, it has a large operational base in the United Kingdom. Brands and products include Adderall XR, Carbatrol, Fosrenol, and the recently released Vyvanse.

Positive Points: Management continued to express confidence that initiatives to improve group efficiency and increase shareholder returns would be achieved. The group continued to drive operational excellence and delivered efficiencies of £11 million from continuing operations during the period. Growth in the Emerging Markets continues to be targeted. More than 30% of the company's revenues came from Emerging Markets. Rexam is the leading beverage can manufacturer in three out of the four BRIC countries. Cash from the sale of its Personal Care business is being returned to shareholders. As already announced, Rexam intends to return around £370 million of the proceeds to shareholders following completion of the disposal by way of a redeemable B share scheme, together with a share consolidation, a structure that gives shareholders flexibility in terms of tax treatment. Group net borrowings stood at £1.352 billion as of the half year end, down from the £1.62 billion recorded as of H1 2011. A progressive dividend policy continues to be pursued. The interim dividend was increased by 6% to 5 pence.

Negative Points: The results came in at the lower end of analyst expectations. Management highlighted a "challenging trading environment." During the period, organic sales for its Healthcare business fell by 1%. Divisional operating profit, as anticipated by management, was down due to the pricing impact of a drug patent expiration and further impacted by lower prescription and primary packaging volumes - underlying operating profit declined from £36 million to £27 million. For the second half, Healthcare profitability is expected to be at a similar level to that of the first. The group’s decision to market the Personal Care business for disposal required its carrying value to be subject to an impairment review. This review gave rise to an impairment charge before tax of £181 million on the Cosmetics, Toiletries and Household Care products business. The loss of a major customer contract could have implications. Rexam’s top 10 beverage can customers accounted for over 70% of sales. Volatility in the price of key raw materials including aluminium and plastics resins may provide headwinds in its core beverage business. Rexam is subject to foreign exchange movements

Financial Highlights: Total Beverage Cans volumes up 6%. Adjusted profit before tax up by 1% to £207 million. Statutory total loss for the period of £52 million against a profit of £132 million for H1 2011. Beverage Can organic operating profit up 9%. Proposed sale of Personal Care business for £452 million previously agreed with £370 million to be returned to shareholders. Interim dividend increased by 6% to 5 pence