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Endeavour Announces Approval of the Rochelle Field Development Plan HOUSTON, Feb. 28, 2011 -- Endeavour International Corporation (NYSE Amex: END) (LSE: ENDV) is pleased to announce the United Kingdom Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has approved the Rochelle Field Development Plan (FDP) for Block 15/27 in the Central North Sea, now known as East Rochelle. This approval represents phase one of the development of the Greater Rochelle area. "This is a significant accomplishment in the Rochelle Field Development. We are very pleased that the DECC has shown their confidence in Endeavour's operating capability and approved our plan so we can move prudently toward first production at East Rochelle next year," said William L. Transier, chairman, chief executive officer and president. "With the added discovery announced in October 2010, we plan to integrate West Rochelle into this development plan, as phase two, with production estimated to begin in 2012." Endeavour is operator of East Rochelle and holds a 55.6 percent working interest in the development. Nexen Petroleum UK Limited holds the remaining 44.4 percent interest. The current FDP calls for the subsea development to be linked by a 30 kilometer pipeline to production facilities on the Scott Platform. First production is planned for the second half of 2012.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20110228070000P043A

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20110228070004M3141

Marks and Spencer (MKS) has fallen through the stoploss and relative support this week. Sell. From David Linton of TipsTracker.com May be a sell just now but that will reverse at some point

IG Group (IGG) is a sell after dropping through the stoploss. Sell From David Linton of TipsTracker.com

Carrs Milling Industries (CRM) is the best looking new tip this week. However it really needs to break above the key level of 700p before it can be considered a buy. If it breaks above 700p use a 12% stoploss. From David Linton of TipsTracker.com

In a move to accelerate its transition from a research and development organisation to a commercial product company, Oxford Catalysts Group (OCG), the speciality catalysts developer for the generation of clean fuels, has raised 21 million pounds via a placing. "The additional funds will help us accelerate the commercialisation and sales of our technology products," commented chief executive Roy Lipski. Oxford shares moved up 2.5p to 89p

Is anyone following this share - it looks quite interesting - it is profitable but last profit was down due to enviromental factors such as power shortages....but from a trading update the days lost for such was around 26 days which does not seem to correlate with the percentage drop in profit - any SORBettes in here have any further insight?

Sorbic International (SORB), the third largest sorbates producer in China, has conditionally raised approximately 1.6 million pounds through the issue of convertible loan notes and shares to fund construction of the new production facility in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia. The group said the new site in Ulanqab City, which is expected to be completed by late 2011, will double the company's existing manufacturing capacity. Shares in Sorbic dropped 3p to 23p.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201102250700068396B

Trading at Lombard Risk Management (LRM) has been positive during the first ten months of the financial year, the collateral management and regulatory compliance solutions provider announced, and is in-line with market revenue and earnings expectations for the full-year. It added that the sales pipeline is encouraging and, if any further deals close before the year end, performance may be materially enhanced. Lombard shares advanced 0.63p to 4.38p.

Following a strategic review, Syndicate Asset Management (SAM) announced plans to sell its institutional fixed income asset management business in a move to focus exclusively the wealth management sector. As such, the group said it intended to "simplify" its central overhead structure, including consolidating its property portfolio, so that "it is more appropriate for a wealth management business". Separately, in a trading update, the firm also reported that its core wealth management businesses was "in-line with the board's expectations". Syndicate shares inched up 0.01p to 1.6p.

Gaming and entertainment company Rank Group (RNK) posted widened adjusted pre-tax profits for the year ended 31st December 2010, boosted by Grosvenor Casinos, and said the positive momentum has continued into 2011. The firm, which also runs Mecca bingo halls, reported that adjusted pre-tax profits rose by 13.8% % to 55.2 million pounds on revenue up 5.1% at 567.8 million pounds. Looking ahead, the group said the consumer environment remained challenging with higher sales taxes in both Great Britain and Spain. Rank shares climbed 7.45p to 132.45p.

Northland Capital Partners commented on Entertainment One (ETO). The broker notes that the group is currently enjoying a strong position in the entertainment sector with the ongoing success of the Twilight Saga film franchise and licensing activity around Peppa Pig and Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom. However, with the rest of the entertainment sector seeing a more mixed trading environment, Northland believes that there may be good acquisition opportunities for Entertainment One to capitalise on. The shares were up 5p to 148.5p.

Arbuthnot initiated coverage on First Derivatives (FDP), the products and consulting services provider to the capital markets industry, with a "strong" buy and 539p target price. Commenting on this group, the broker said Investment in research & development and commercial infrastructure has created the potential for the IT consulting services provider to become a leading global supplier of trading, data and risk management solutions to the capital markets industry. Deep domain expertise, coupled with a next-generation offering that has demonstrated market acceptance through early sales success, gives Arbuthnot confidence that the next few years will prove transformational in terms of earnings growth. First Derivatives shares edged ahead 2.5p to 430p.

Evolution Securities issued an "add" rating for Hunting (HTG), the energy services provider, with an 800p target price. The broker notes that top line growth is expected from a combination of commissioning of new manufacturing facilities in the US, UK and China as well as a full year contribution from acquisitions. Topline growth could also come from raw material price inflation (such as steel), Evolution added, where price rises can be passed on to customers in a tightening market. All these factors should have a positive impact on both revenue and margins in 2011, the broker concluded. The shares inched up 4.5p to 779p.

Record year for Rightmove Date: Friday 25 Feb 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Revenue and profits at property web site Rightmove came in a shade shy of market expectations, though the results still set new records for the group despite a tough year for the UK housing market. Revenue in 2010 rose from £64.5m in 2009 to £81.6m in 2010, a bit lower than the £82.2m the market had been expecting. Profit before tax rose from £36.5m to £52.2m, versus expectations of £53.3m. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations surged to 34.60p (market consensus: 36.16p) from 26.33p. Underlying basic EPS rose 34% to 39.8p from 29.6p the year before. The proposed final dividend of 9p is up from 7p the year before and takes the full year dividend to 14p, a 40% increase from 2009’s 10p. The number of advertisers on Rightmove’s site grew by 2% in 2010 to 18,042 from 17,664 the year before, and the average revenue per customer rose to £379 per month from £308 per month in 2009. Website traffic grew year on year with page impressions up 17% to 7.6bn, generating record visibility and enquiries for the site’s advertisers. Enquiries from mobile communication devices soared, with the company recording 222m mobile page impressions, up 900% on 2009. The company’s positive net cash balance at the end of 2010 had improved to £23.1m from £3.4m at the end of 2009, with cash boosted by the initial net proceeds of £13.3m on the disposal of the Holiday Lettings business. Ed Williams, managing director of Rightmove, waxed lyrical about the company’s importance to the property market on its tenth anniversary, claiming: “Rightmove today is considered not simply a listings portal, but an amphitheatre for the entire property industry where we assist our member advertisers in communicating their brand, properties and expertise to the British home-moving public." Chairman Scott Forbes was slightly less purple in his prose. “In terms of financial results, 2010 set new records for organic growth, revenue and profits,” Forbes said. On a more sober note, Forbes predicted that transaction volumes in the housing market are not likely to see much improvement on 2009 and 2010 levels, but given that its customers had survived the housing market downturn this long, he was hopeful that most would make it through 2011 as well. The current year has started well. “January 2011 has seen us send a record number of enquiries to our advertisers. The growth in mobile traffic continues to be strong and increases at an even faster rate than for the main website,” Forbes said. “Average spend per advertiser started the year very healthily and is expected to rise further over the coming months. Overall advertiser numbers are stable, at similar levels to late 2010,” he added.

Turnaround stocks star at Strategic Equity Date: Friday 25 Feb 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Strategic Equity, the investment trust focused on smaller UK companies with a market capitalisation of less than £150m, saw net asset value per share rise by more than a third in the second half of 2010. Net asset value (NAV) per share at the end of 2010 stood at 90.45p, up from 66.72p at the end of June 2010, an improvement of 35.6%. The gain was driven by a combination of continued strong operating performance across the portfolio, particularly specialist electronics companies, and the positive impact of the company's investment in Strategic Recovery Fund II. Seven of the top eight contributors to the rise in the value of the portfolio have recently experienced either significant change to their board of directors or major restructuring programmes, and in many cases both, the investment manager, SVG Investment Managers, observed. The 35.6% gain in the NAV per share left the company's benchmark index, the FTSE SmallCap (excluding investment companies), trailing in the dust; the index rose by 14.8% over the period. The trust is focused on capital appreciation rather than income and, consistent with its policy, it has not declared a dividend. “The investment outlook for the company remains positive,” claimed the trust’s chairman, John Hodson. “Despite strong performance since its 2008 low, the UK smaller companies market remains both undervalued in an absolute sense, and one of the cheapest equity markets in the world on a relative basis. Investor appetite for smaller companies appears to be increasing, reflected in both increased M&A [mergers & acquisitions] activity and net buying of equities and funds by investors for the first time in several years,” he added.

CONT. Two big deals have already been tied up this month. It raised 95% of the £51.6m pocketed by Kyrgyz Republic gold miner Chaarat and most of the £33m Infrastructure India will use to transform its business. Fees for this sort of service can be anything between 1% and 3%. Unfortunately, this won’t show up in full-year figures due out in April, but will certainly boost September’s interim numbers. The size of these deals proves Westhouse can get the money in and could convince others to give the firm a go. “There should be a decent flow of opportunities in the remainder of the year,” says Getley. Westhouse, whose client list now tops 30 companies, has built up a big team with enough wise heads to bring in the business and start competing with rivals like Peel Hunt and Evolution. “The realistic aim for 2011 following the investment funds initiative and Smith’s acquisition should be to increase significantly the number of corporate clients we have and the size of deals we do,” Getley said. “We’re extremely well set going forward.”

Westhouse raises its game By Lee Wild Date: Friday 25 Feb 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Westhouse Holdings, the corporate finance and broking business once part-owned by the Hanson family and now run by Christopher Getley, has had a hectic year and there’s unlikely to be much rest for the owners. Bill Staple started the company in 2004 following the demerger of Brown Shipley's corporate finance and broking business. Since then, the former Cazenove and Rothschild man has put together a series of deals designed to prepare the firm for the big league. “It’s essentially been six years of building a business – the team, infrastructure, balance sheet and getting in a big shareholder,” Getley, an institutional fund manager in emerging markets at Morgan Grenfell and Caz, told ShareCast. Getley was joint managing director of Smith’s Holdings, a small corporate broking and investor relations services, until Westhouse boss Bill Staple bought the business for £735,000 last month. Staple, now in his early 60s, handed over the reins to 47-year-old Getley. He brought with him Smith’s chairman and ex-Morgan Grenfell corporate financier Nicholas Bull, already a director at Anthony Bolton's Fidelity China Special Situations. Bull will sit on the Westhouse board as a non-exec alongside Beeson Gregory founder Andrew Beeson and Sir Hayden Phillips, once Permanent Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department. It’s been quite a time for Westhouse these past few years. The Hanson family bought out Kreditbank Luxembourg, which owned 65% of the original Westhouse Securities, in July 2006. They took a 40% stake in the renamed Hanson Westhouse, with management owning the rest. The credit crunch was unkind to the firm. The shares plunged from 150p to less than 20p between late 2007 and April 2009 as fundraisings dried up, but the reverse takeover of emerging market equity finance house SovGEM proved a masterstroke, breathing new life into the business and propelling the shares to a summer high of more than 80p. The Hanson moniker disappeared when the clan sold its stake. Westhouse started making markets in selected UK equities in April last year, bringing in a “significant month-on-month profit stream for the business”, and in August Bermuda Commercial Bank injected £3.5m of cash through a Perpetual Convertible Loan Note. “That allowed the company to grow its broking business, bring in an investment funds team from Arbuthnot and take over Smith’s,” explained Getley, who owns 4% of £8m Westhouse. “Historically Westhouse’s client base has been in resources, but we also want to get into clean technologies,” Getley said. “Our expansion into investment funds also gives balance to the business and plays to the strengths of the board.”