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Driver Group trading in line Date: Tuesday 01 Mar 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Shares in construction industry consultancy Driver rose over 5% after it said trading in the first half has been in line with company expectations. "Our European and Africa regions are performing well whereas the live construction market in the Middle East is particularly challenging in Abu Dhabi and Dubai," the group said in a statement. Driver said January 2011 appeared to mark a turning point as the group return to profitability in the month with revenues and gross margin estimates for the second quarter up on those of Q1. "We have also continued to work to reduce the overheads across the group and have made significant savings at group level and regional overhead savings in the UK and the Middle East which will benefit the second half of the year," it explained. In the UK its industrial and power sector is out-performing management expectations despite the tough UK construction market whilst Africa is in line with expectations. Driver said it has secured its trading licence in Qatar in October 2010 and are now starting to see a developing pipeline of opportunities. The high level of enquiries for its services in the Middle East continues, it said.

John White, Group Chairman, said: "Despite a continuing low level of mortgage approvals, the Group is achieving improving returns and remains well positioned for the upturn in the housing market when it occurs."

Highlights · Underlying pre-tax profits* of £95.5m strongly ahead of prior year (2009: £7.0m) · Revenues 10.5% higher at £1.57bn (2009: £1.42bn) · Legal completions increased 4.5% to 9,384 new homes (2009: 8,976) · Average selling price of £167,249 being 5.7% ahead of last year (2009: £158,272) · Underlying operating margin* of 8.2% (2009: 4.0%) - performance continues to strengthen · Reported pre-tax profits** of £153.9m following net exceptional credit of £63.0m (2009: £77.8m, after £74.8m net exceptional credit) · Basic earnings per share of 38.3p (2009: 24.7p) · Continued strong cash generation: £225.6m cash generated from operations (2009: £356.8m) · Gearing of 3% (2009: 16%) - net borrowings*** reduced to £51.0m (2009: £267.5m) · Net assets per share increased by 7.2% to 579.1p (2009: 540.2p) · Good levels of land replacement - c. 10,200 plots acquired during the year · Strong forward sales of £848m (2009: £898m) · Healthy landbank of c. 59,000 plots owned and under control representing c. 6.3 years supply · Final dividend of 4.5p per share to bring the total dividend for the year to 7.5p per share

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103010700190357C

Persimmon rebuilds profits Date: Tuesday 01 Mar 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Housebuilder Persimmon proved today it’s as a good as its word, reporting underlying profits in line with January’s prediction, and sales have been “encouraging” since the beginning of the year. Profit before tax and exceptional items jumped to £95.5m in 2010 from just £7m the year before on revenue up 10.5% to £1.57bn. Including one-offs, profit more than doubled to £153.9m from £77.8m. Legal completions increased 4.5% to 9,384 new homes at an average selling price of £167,249, up 5.7% on last year, as flagged at a trading update at the beginning of this year. The company has already achieved about £848m of sales including legal completions in 2011 and prices remain stable. There’s also some margin improvement over the year before. Demand has been “good” at new developments and the current levels of visitors to other developments and the interest in the firm’s homes is “encouraging”. Although the business wants an increase in mortgage approvals and more loan to value products for first time buyers, “the organisation, scale and cost base of the group enable us to operate successfully at the current levels of activity”. There’s a final dividend of 4.5p per share, taking the total payout for the year to 7.5p.

GKN swings £400m into big profit Date: Tuesday 01 Mar 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Aerospace and vehicles engineer GKN bounced back into the black last year as all divisions bar aerospace saw good sales growth. Profits came in at £345m in 2010, a near £400m swing from losses of £54m the previous year. Sales rose by 20% to £5.1bn and by 22% on an underlying basis. Trading profit was £411m, up £255m, and trading margins more than doubled 7.6%. Drivelines sales rose by 35% with driveshaft demand especially strong as the auto industry recovered from the 2009 crisis. Powder Metallurgy sales rose 48%, while Land Systems sales were up 18%. Aerospace sales fell 2% but GKN says it has picked up $1.5bn of additional orders. The outlook for our major markets is positive although some uncertainty remains, particularly around macro-economic conditions, it says. In automotive, external forecasts suggest that global light vehicle production should reach just over 78m vehicles in 2011, an increase of 5%, with the strongest growth in China and India and continuing market recovery in North America. Production in Western Europe is expected to be broadly flat. In aerospace, US military aircraft market demand is expected to show a small reduction as the rundown of the F-22 programme and a decrease on the C-17 are partially offset by increases on other programmes. Civil aircraft production is expected to return to growth in 2011 as both Airbus and Boeing increase production schedules. “GKN expects 2011 to be a year of good progress for the Group. As end markets continue to improve, the strength of our market positions and order books leaves GKN well placed for a period of sustained growth, margin expansion and strong free cash flow generation,” it added. A final dividend of 3.5p per share, gives a total dividend 5p.

Ricardo confident for full year Date: Tuesday 01 Mar 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Engine consultant Ricardo reported a 32% increase in half year pre-tax profit, upped its dividend and remains confident of further progress for the full year. Pre-tax profit rose to £5m for the six months ended 31 December 2010 compared to £3.8m a year earlier. Revenue for half year rose to £90.2m from £81m. Commenting on the results, chief executive Dave Shemmans said, "Overall, this has been a pleasing half year performance with positive signs of recovery in the passenger car market and further progress made with our diversification strategy." Ricardo said it has seen a strong order intake in the past six months, up 28% on the same period in the prior year and it has a good pipeline of prospects. "Winning multi-year engineering programmes, commencing assembly on the supercar engine, and securing a significant defence programme, provide longer term business visibility," Shemmans added. An interim dividend of 3.4p per share has been recommended, up from 3.2p paid a year earlier.

Chief executive Jaime Lomelin said: "2010 was a year of exceptional performance. The combination of increased production, strong cost control and high metals prices led 2010 to be the best year in the company's history. While continued market volatility and uncertainty regarding the pace of the economic recovery will undoubtedly offer challenges in 2011, I am confident that our focus on increasing productivity, containing costs, expanding the resource and reserve base, and strengthening our growth pipeline will create ongoing and sustainable value to all our stakeholders."

Financial highlights · Adjusted revenue[1] up 56.1% to US$1,473.9 million · EBITDA[2] up 90.3% to US$945.0 million · EBITDA margin increases to 67.0%, from 58.4% in 2009 · Cost controls and efficiency measures enabled Fresnillo to remain in the lowest quartile of the cost curve · Operating profit[3] up 94.4% to US$833.4 million · Profit attributable to equity shareholders of the Company, excluding the Silverstream revaluation effects up 72.3% to US$530.8 million (post Silverstream revaluation up 106.6% to US$665.5 million) · Adjusted EPS[4] up 72.1% to US$0.740 per share, EPS up 106.5% to US$0.927 per share · Final dividend of 35.6 US cents per ordinary share · Robust balance sheet with no debt and a strong cash position up 79.2% to US$559.5 million

Operational highlights · Record attributable silver production of 38.6 million ounces, up 1.7% · Record attributable gold production of 368,995 ounces, up 33.4% · First year of commercial operations at Soledad-Dipolos exceeded production budget · Ciénega expansion and Saucito development on track for start up in 1H 2011 · Pre-feasibility study at the Noche Buena gold project concluded, construction commencing in Q1 2011 · Discovery of new ore shoot at Saucito, adding over 76 million ounces of silver and 300,000 ounces of gold to resources · Positive drilling results obtained at several exploration projects and prospects · Total resources base increased by over 15%, with reserves replenished at existing mines · On track to produce 65 million ounces of silver and over 400,000 ounces of gold annually by 2018

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103010700210372C

OOPS sorry - ignore the last - copy and paste gone to #### !

Eddy - the SP will only really rise and remain when SOLG hits its full 2M target. News like yesterdays show it is on track and woos new investors however the impatient also jump ship.

Solid results - good turnaround from last year which has obviously played out in the SP rise

Commenting on the Group's annual results, Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: "2010 has been an encouraging year for IP Group, with many of the Group's portfolio companies making excellent progress towards key milestones and with commercial validation by industrial partners having been particularly encouraging. The valuation of the portfolio has increased despite a challenging financing and operating environment for small technology-based businesses. This valuation has benefited from the completion of a number of further external financings, including the first two portfolio companies joining AIM since 2007. Cash balances remain strong, our pipeline of activity is healthy and this, coupled with the portfolio's strong 2010 progress, gives us continued confidence that the Group will generate significant long term returns for shareholders. The UK continues to produce a wealth of world class intellectual property from its universities, much of which we are helping to commercialise. Never before has this innovation been so important to the UK economy. IP Group intends to play an increasingly central role in helping leading innovation reach the market for the benefit of shareholders and all other stakeholders in UK science."

Portfolio highlights · Fair value of investment portfolio increased to £110.0m (2009: £101.3m) · Value of ten largest holdings increased to £81.3m (2009: £72.9m), representing 74% of the portfolio (2009: 72%) · 5 new seed-stage spin-out companies, including the Group's first from the University of Cambridge (2009: 2 seed companies) · Over £40m of capital raised by portfolio companies during the year, of which over £28m was raised in private financing rounds · Tissue Regenix Group plc and Ilika plc successfully achieve listings on AIM, raising £4.5m and £5.2m respectively · Oxford Nanopore Technologies completes £17.4m financing in 2010 and announces preliminary details of its prototype GridION DNA sequencing platform · Revolymer Limited announces the US launch of its Rev7TM removable and degradable chewing gum

Financial and operational highlights · Net assets increased to £173.1m (2009: £171.0m) · Profit after tax of £1.8m (2009: £6.1m loss) · Net cash and deposits at 31 December 2010: £21.5m (2009: £28.1m) and zero borrowings · Investment in portfolio companies increased to: £6.9m (2009: £5.7m) · Realisations from portfolio companies increased to: £2.7m (2009: £0.5m) · Revenue from services increased to £2.2m (2009: £1.5m) · Successful launch of £25m North East Technology Fund managed by the Group in January 2010

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103010700210389C

Nigel Rich, Executive Chairman of Xchanging, commented: "These results are consistent with our last trading statement made on 9 February, and provide a high level of transparency and a clear picture of how we operate. With clarity around our financial position, we will now focus attention on operational issues and regenerating shareholder value. We have already started tackling the problematic parts of the Cambridge acquisition as well as our structural costs. This is part of a wider action plan resulting from a root-and-branch review that sets our agenda for 2011. This will be a year of transition as we address and resolve clearly defined problems. We have completed a detailed strategic and intrinsic evaluation, and have a plan to address poor performance and potentially reshape our business, regenerate profitable revenue growth and cash flow, reduce our structural cost base, ensure we have adequate financial flexibility, and embed a focus on value creation. Implementation of the plan has begun and in 2011 will incur costs. We expect the benefits to start accruing during the year and to become more clearly visible in 2012."

2011 Action Plan We have completed a detailed strategic and intrinsic value review resulting in an action plan which is already underway to: · Address poor performing operations and potentially reshape the business; · Regenerate profitable revenue growth with a focus on strong business areas; · Reduce the structural cost base; · Prioritise cash flow and ensure adequate financing flexibility; · Embed focus on value creation.