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Looking very promising here.........Good luck all....

The drug will now progress to phase III trials in the US, managed by its partner in the project, pharma giant, Novartis.

The not-catchily titled QVA149 is a treatment delivered through an inhaler, mainly targeted at chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - a condition often seen in smokers, or people working in a polluted environment, which can cause debilitating bouts of breathlessness. The latest study results show a once daily dose of QVA149 gives patients "superior" lung function to the twice daily treatment Seretide.

Vectura, the pharma company specialising in treatments for respiratory diseases, says a trial of one of its development drugs has shown better results than the main competitor.

In other words, things are not getting noticeably better. In fact, sales volumes "are not likely to be as strong as originally anticipated." John Colley, Superglass's Chairman says the company is "making progress in its turnaround." Investors do not agree. The stock has dropped 9% in morning trading, 96% in the last 12 months. Unless the new manufacturing plant delivers for Superglass, and crucially, gets built on time, then the firm's future looks deeply uncertain.

Part of the money raised will be spent on a new manufacturing plant, nicknamed Project Phoenix, but this is only described as proceeding "broadly" in line with the plan of completion by 2013. The company has also revised its guidance for the full year; originally it had hoped earnings would pick up in the second half as uncertainty about its future was removed. It now appears to be backtracking, saying "the board's view is that trading will continue at or around the current run rate for the second half of the year."

The struggling glass fibre insulation firm, Superglass, has dropped sharply after reporting increased losses and tough market conditions. In the six months to the end of February revenue increased by 14% to £17.2m compared to the same period of 2011 but losses before tax increased to £0.8m, from flat earnings in the prior year. Superglass blames exceptional costs arising from the refinancing last year and tough market conditions. The firm was forced to launch a £20m fund-raising in December, financed through issuing new shares and by turning debt into equity.

The Chief Executive, Brian Mattingley, said of the update: "Our focused strategy has led to another excellent quarter, with ongoing strength in Poker driving March to the highest ever monthly revenues in the history of 888. "Poker has continued its robust performance in the early stages of Q2, with our other product areas seeing an expected return to seasonal patterns."

Trading in the current quarter is 1% ahead of the first three months but the firm expects to "see a return to the historic seasonal pattern". In other words, a possible slow down.

Stockbroker Panmure Gordon saw its share price plunge 9% in early trading on Tuesday after it announced a loss of £31.47m in 2011. The firm was hammered by the global financial crisis and was haemorrhaging money at its US business, ThinkEquity. Since the end of the year agreement was reached for a management buy-out of the US division. The firm said "market conditions have changed beyond all recognition" since it bought ThinkEquity in 2007.

Surgical Innovations Group, which designs and manufactures products for minimally invasive surgery, saw revenues and profits rise in 2011 in line with analysts' expectations. Revenue increased 7.9% to £7.6m while pre-tax profits were up 10% to £1.7m. The firm said it would pay no dividend. It added that trading in the period since the year end had been encouraging and was in line with current expectations for the first quarter.

Hardy Oil & Gas has agreed a plan to relinquish the D9 Exploration Block offshore India after tests showed the block's hydrocarbon potential was low and further exploration or appraisal activity was unwarranted. Hardy owns a 10% stake in the block. It said its D3 exploration licence, located in the Krishna Godavari Basin, remained the main focus for our organic growth potential. The firm's shares fell 1% following the announcement.

Jupiter Energy, the Kazakhstan-focused oil exploration and production company, said trial production of oil had begun at its J-50 and J-52 wells in the country. The news pushed its shares up over 8% in morning trading. Aggregated daily production from the sites was initially expected to be around 600 barrels of oil per day, the firm said. Jupiter is finalising sales agreements with at least two local traders and said it expected to announce details of these contracts shortly.

UK oil and gas firm Forum Energy has confirmed its natural gas discovery at Recto Bank in the disputed South China Sea contains more reserves than initially thought. In an announcement to the Philippines Stock Exchange earlier, Philex Petroleum Corp said Forum had a report that "is expected to show an improvement in the resources previously known". Forum said the report would be shown to the board later this week. The ownership of the territory is currently disputed by China and the Philippines.

Highland's share price has fallen 29% this year, after it issued the reduced production guidance. Chairman Duncan Baxter said he was "delighted" at the increase in revenues and said production through 2012 would be between 200,000 and 215,000 ounces.

The group, however, is not shy about drawing attention to its revenues, which grew from $243.5m to $300m on the back of the increased gold price. Gross profit rose 29% to $154.5m, while underlying earnings gained 29.5% to $157m. Since the end of 2011 Highland has increased its certified resource base by 41% to 11.11m ounces due to audits at a new exploration site and acquisitions.

Russia-focused precious metals producer Highland Gold Mining says bad weather and declining ore quality resulted in reduced production during 2011. The company's latest results show the group produced 184,102 ounces of gold last year, down significantly on the 200,028 ounces produced during 2010 and below the downwardly revised target of 190,000 to 200,000.

The Tybalt well is currently being drilled by the Borgsten Dolphin semi-submersible rig, with results anticipated in May. Valiant shares had risen 1.5% by 11:09 on the news of the farm-out; since the beginning of the year the stock is ahead by 33%.

Valiant Petroleum, the operator of the Tybalt appraisal well in the North Sea, has signed a 'farm-out' agreement with its current partner in the project, Agora Oil. The move will see Agora increase its stakeholding to 40%, in return for a partial cost carry. Valiant will remain operator with a 60% interest.

"The [UK] government is very interested in the technology of intra-operative hemodynamic [blood flow] monitoring, because it reduces the length of stay of patients in hospitals," O'Brien said. Full adoption of hemodynamic monitoring by the NHS for 750,000 additional patients per year is expected to save the NHS £400m per annum - assuming it is adopted, of course; O'Brien seems confident it will be and that other countries will follow.