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Copper Development (CDC), the exploration company focused on the Philippines, rose in morning trading after revealing a Joint venture agreement for 70% interest in its Basay project. The site has already yielded "long, high grade intersections" and has the potential to become a "world class" asset, according to the firm. CDC has now converted a debenture loan into a 70% stake.

The investment attraction of the merged group is compelling, being one of the largest production and resource/reserve based mid-tier ASX listed gold companies, with a diversified portfolio of quality assets operating in multiple regional jurisdictions. The combined group will have a declining cost profile and exciting growth potential through near-term project development and exploration upside."

Both firms have said they believe that the combination has a "clear strategic and financial rationale, is value enhancing, and provides benefits for the shareholders of the enlarged group". The move is aimed at reducing the investment risk profile through a more diversified asset portfolio, save costs, and have the largest gold reserves and resources portfolio of any mid-tier ASX listed peer company. St.Barbara, which last year failed to takeover Catalpa Resources, is one of the largest mid-tier Australian gold miners and has three mines and two processing plants at Leonora and Southern Cross, in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia, and over 5,000km2 of prospective tenements across Australia. So far, 54% of Allied Gold shareholders have backed the merger, which is set to be completed by late Augst or early September. Mark Caruso, Chairman and Founder of Allied Gold, said: "The board of directors of Allied Gold unanimously supports the transaction and believes it to be a unique transformational opportunity with the potential to realise an immediate premium for shareholders. "The transaction has the certainty of cash consideration coupled with an equity component to enable participation in the significant upside potential of the combined group.

Shares in Allied Gold Mining rocketed almost 64 per cent on Friday after the mining company announced that it and fellow miner St Barbara plan to form a one billion dollar mid-tier miner by merging, in the largest deal of its kind since late 2010. Under the agreement, St Barbara will acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Allied Gold, and shareholders will be entitled to receive A$1.025 in cash and 0.8 St Barbara consideration shares for each Allied Gold share held. The offer values the capital of Allied Gold at around £360m and each share at 176p, which represents a premium of approximately 92.3% over the closing price of 91.5p per Allied Gold share on June 28th.

In a statement the company said: "The third quarter remains a key trading period. However, Promethean considers that market conditions will remain very challenging, and the Board now believes that the results for the year will be significantly below previous expectations. Promethean will therefore continue to align its cost base to these tougher market conditions and this will lead to an exceptional charge in 2012."

Shares in Promethean World, the supplier of education technology, dived almost 40 per cent on Friday after revising its revenue prediction for the first half of the year lower after the seasonal trend in the US of high levels of order activity at the end of June failed to materialise at the levels anticipated. Revenues for the first half of the year are therefore now expected to be in the range of £80m-£85m and, with gross margins lower than last year, and it is anticipated that the group will post a high single digit (£m) operating loss for the first half of the year. The firm was keen to emphasise that the group has a positive cash balance and undrawn bank facilities

"In addition, the investment in the tele-marketing system has seen a marked increase in opportunities being turned into prospects and tenders. Finally, Inspired has accelerated the planned growth in the analyst and field sales team with the recruitment of several highly rated analysts from competitors such as Inenco and Ener-G who have already had a significant positive impact on sales throughout the period." The company also said that the recently acquired DEP is performing in line with management's expectations and the integration process is on track.

Inspired Energy, a UK energy procurement consultant to UK corporates, said on Friday that the group has seen rapid growth in order book sales, with the first five months of 2012's order book sales being 63 per cent ahead of the same period in 2011. This, the firm said, has seen Inspired's order book increase organically to £5.2m, an increase of £1.1m since admission at the end of November 2011. "The increase in sales rate and, consequently, order book bodes well for future performance as the contracts begin to go live during H2 2012 and into 2013, providing an excellent financial platform for the group," the group commented. "The growth in order book sales has been driven by several factors. Inspired continues to grow its market presence within the industry and is seeing additional referred and introduced opportunities.

Nice to see some blue again..........

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AreubPYMlqXIdGJ4SWpMa2dZdy01MzMyOXM4SWdkX3c

Pure Wafer said it was continuing to enjoy strong demand in the second half and was largely isolated from the eurozone storm. The firm, which provides 'wafer reclaim' services to semi-conductor manufacturers, said it was seeing increased demand mainly from the US and Asian markets, but also from a stable European sector. "Pure Wafer and indeed the semiconductor industry as a whole is to a very large extent insulated from the economic problems of the Eurozone with revenues denominated in USD," the firm said in a trading statement. "The semiconductor industry is a global market which is currently being driven by the increasing demand for hand held devices in the heavily populated emerging economies of China, India, Russia and Brazil," it added. The firm said that its manufacturing sites in Swansea and Prescott were running at record levels of productivity and overall levels of costs were being tightly managed. This meant Pure Wafer's cost per unit was running at an all time low

Computer chip designer Wolfson said its audio technology had been picked by Samsung for a new smartphone, the GALAXY S III. The firm's 'WM1811' package will determine the phone's call quality as well as the clarity of audio playback for music and video, while at the same time aiming to minimise power consumption. Wolfson said this would mean "outstanding HD Audio user experiences with long battery life". "Our continued success with Samsung, particularly within its range of smartphones and tablets, is testament to the unrivalled quality of our HD Audio Hubs, and the unique features in our products that allow manufacturers to create differentiated audio experiences," Chief Executive Mike Hickey. Wolfson has a history of working with Samsung, having already provided audio technology for the Samsung Wave and Galaxy S.

A big dividend increase wasn't enough to reassure investors who sold out of carpet maker Victoria after it warned of an uncertain outlook. Stripping out the cost of restructuring its Irish operation, the firm posted full year pre-tax profits of £2.21m, up almost 15% on the year before. Revenues increased 9.4% to £77.13m and the company announced a total dividend for the year of 10.50p, an increase of 16.7% over the prior year. Revenue in Australia grew by 1.5% in local currency after a significant slowdown in the final quarter of the financial year, while revenue in the UK was ahead by 9.4%. The UK numbers benefitted from a strong growth in sales to the John Lewis Partnership. But the firm warned the economic outlook in all of the markets in which it operated remained uncertain, affecting consumer confidence. "We anticipate that we are unlikely to see any significant recovery in market conditions in the current financial year," said Chairman Katherine Innes Ker.

C&C Group, the Magners cider brewer, said poor weather in the UK and Ireland resulted in weak cider numbers for the first quarter but it remains confident in earnings growth for the full year. Operating profit for the full financial year is expected to be in the range of €112m to €118m, it said. It added that Tennent's performed well in the difficult trading conditions and continues to grow its earnings. Export also enjoyed a good quarter with the addition of the Hornsby's brand complementing steady organic growth. CEO Stephen Glancey commented: "Despite a challenging quarter and tough consumer backdrop, we are confident that our resilient business model and strong brand market combinations will deliver continued earnings growth for the full year and maintain our business momentum." C&C said its core cider business will see an increase in commercial support and brand activity over the next nine months and it anticipates a recovery in volume and revenue.

Unfortunately for Safestore though, the market seems to only really care about the loss. At 09:52, the stock was down 9.3%

Safestore, the provider of self storage in the UK and France, has dropped dramatically in morning trading after revealing a near-12m sterling pre-tax loss. Figures for the six months to April 30th, show the company's property portfolio valuation has been reduced by £24m (or 3.4%) compared to the end of October last year. Obviously, Safestore has to reflect that loss in the numbers released today, as well as £12m in currency translation losses incurred in moving money from France back to HQ. Combined, those two effects have lead to a pre-tax loss of £11.8m and a loss per share of 3.31p. The group's other metrics look reasonable, one indicator often used by storage firms is revenue per available foot, which has risen 7.6%, while total revenues have climbed 6.4% on the prior year to £48.4m

It also said following company actions, it has reduced the accounting pension deficit, before deferred tax, by approximately £18m. Costain today announced a new joint venture with Severn Trent to provide business water and waste water management services to commercial and industrial water users.

Engineering group Costain said it performed strongly over the first half and is on track to deliver full year results in line with company expectations. It said during the first half, it continued to secure significant new awards and extensions to existing contracts, "as a result of focussing on blue chip public and private sector customers whose spending plans are driven by national need, regulatory commitments or essential maintenance requirements," it said in an update ahead of its interim results. The London based group said its forward order book currently stands at £2.4bn compared to £2.3bn the same time a year earlier. Costain said it continues to maintain a strong preferred bidder position of over £400m. As at the end of the first half, around £850m of revenue has been secured for 2012.

Shares of Photo-Me International, the photo booth and vending machine operator, shot ahead after it said it expects further progress in the year ahead and posted a 12% increase in full year profit. Pre-tax profit rose to £20.1m for the year ended April 30 from £18m the previous year. Revenue fell to £207.8m versus £219.8m in 2011 after continued weakness at its sales and servicing division overshadowed a robust performance at its operations division. "Despite the difficult trading background we intend to press ahead with new product development and we remain keen to add to our current portfolio of businesses if the right opportunities arise," said non-executive chairman John Lewis. "Subject to the risks and uncertainties detailed in the business and financial review, the Board once again anticipates further progress over the coming year," he added. Net cash resources climbed £11m to almost £52m. The group is recommending a final dividend of 1.25p a share, giving a total dividend of 2.5p for the year, up 25%.

Northern Europe-focused publishing business Mecom Group has said it welcomes an announcement by the Norwegian Competition Authority that it has cleared the sale of Mecom Europe, the holding company of Edda Media, to A-pressen. On December 5th last year Mecom announced that it had agreed the sale at a multiple of 7.2 times Edda Media's 2011 full-year consensus earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). The effective proceeds for the disposal of NOK 1,500m (£159m) were expected at that time to result in a net debt reduction of around €190m, but given the strengthening of the Norwegian Kroner against the Euro since December 2011, the net debt reduction on closing will actually be around €195m. Mecom will receive an additional cash payment from A-Pressen for the free cash flow generated by Edda Media between December 31st 2011 and completion of the sale, which it anticipates will be received within three months of completion.