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Shares in Accsys Technologies took a battering on Friday morning after the company announced a deeply discounted placing of shares. The wood products company is to raise €30m by way of an underwritten firm placing and open offer of 200m shares. The shares are being offered at €0.15 each, representing a discount of 58.9% to the closing mid-market share price on the day before the announcement.

Pharmaceutical technology provider Avacta Group (AVCT) has signed a distribution agreement for Optim in which Cold Spring Biotech Corporation, the life sciences distribution group, will sell the low volume protein analysis system in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Optim has been developed to accelerate and reduce the cost of drug development by providing early analysis of compounds. Commenting on this, Alastair Smith, chief executive of Avacta Group said: "Continued inward investment by the Chinese government is aimed at supporting this growth as well as considerable investment by major global pharmaceutical companies." The shares advanced 0.07p to 1.28p.

News that African Aura Mining* (AAAM) has intersected "encouraging bedrock mineralization" from reconnaissance diamond drilling at its Ndablama gold prospect in western Liberia pushed the miner's shares up 24p to 229p. Results from the first eight holes include an eight metre intersection with 6.04 grams of the precious metal per tonne and 16 metres at 2.38 grams. Commenting on this, Luis da Silva, president and CEO of African Aura said: "The target area is now over two kilometres long and has many of the hallmarks of a potentially significant gold mineralised system."

Following press speculation regarding its business in India, Pace (PIC) has confirmed that it is currently working to agree contract terms with a satellite operator for the launch of a new digital service. It is rumoured that the group is working on a set-top box for Tata Sky - a joint venture between Indian conglomerate Tata and News International-owned Star TV. Commenting on this, Seymour Pierce said this should serve as a reminder to the market that there are new and growing markets for the products that Pace supplies. The broker maintained its "buy" rating and 253p target price. The shares slid down 13.2p to 200.1p.

Shares in RPS Group (RPS) inched down 1.7p to 214p after the consultancy firm announced that the recent extreme flooding in Queensland, Australia, "seriously" damaged its business, and activities are likely to continue to be seriously disrupted for some months. Separately, the group added that results for the year ended 31st December 2010 will show profit (before tax and amortisation) in line with consensus forecasts of between 47.2 million pounds and 49 million pounds. "Australia represents 25% of EBITA and as a consequence we see significant pressure on consensus 2012 expectations," Peel Hunt commented.

Cracking results

Despite rising commodity costs eating into its profit margin, Unilever (ULVR), one of the world's largest consumer products companies, issued forecast-beating fourth-quarter sales figures alongside a 25% increase in annual profit for the period ended 31st December 2010. The maker of Dove soap and Magnum revealed pre-tax profits for the full year rose by 25% to 6.1 billion Euros (5.2 billion pounds) on revenue up 11.1% to 44.3 billion Euros (37.8 billion pounds). Commenting on this, chief executive Jean-Marc Huët said; "We delivered strong volume growth, particularly in emerging markets which continued to be the engine of growth." Unilever shares lost 22p to 1,835p

Arbuthnot reiterated its "buy" recommendation for May Gurney (MAYG), the infrastructure support services company, with a 350p target price. The broker notes the recent Turriff Group deal which it says has brought Scottish Water - among others - onto the group's client list as a meaningful customer, raising the company's exposure to the utility sector just as new regulated investment programmes are rolling out. Other attractions of the deal, Arbuthnot added, include penetration into a new, relatively immature market with many cross-selling opportunities. The shares fell by 3p to 259p.

Canaccord Genuity issued a "buy" rating on chipmaker CSR (CSR) with an increased target price of 460p, up from 410p. In its fourth-quarter results next week, the broker is expecting the group will provide investors with confidence that it can achieve its development targets and escape a trend of product delays and development errors. With that said, and with hopes that the group will soon develop a next-generation product, Evolution thinks the firm will technologically leapfrog the competition and recover market share. Shares in CSR pushed back 5p to 396.1p.

Ahead of interims next week, Panmure Gordon maintained its "hold" recommendation on household product supplier McBride (MCB) with a 190p target price. The broker notes that the shares have declined 17% since its trading update at the start of January, reflecting concerns over potential further cost increases and the ongoing challenging promotional environment in certain key categories. That said, although shares are beginning to look better value, Panmure expects margin pressure from rising input costs to limit share price performance in the absence of other news. McBride shares moved down 4.4p to 149.7p.

Evolution Securities issued a "buy" rating on Sage Group (SGE), the accounting and business management software provider, with a 340p target price. Following the group's analyst day, the broker came away convinced that there was no real structural impediment to returning to high single digit organic revenue growth per annum in the medium term. Adding to this, Evolution said there were growth drivers in many areas of the business, not least the latent US support opportunity. Sage shares lost 8.6p to 292.1p.

Military researcher QinetiQ expects to 'exceed its previous expectations' for the current year, as it delivers a backlog of its products. However the high-tech weapons group warned that its view of future periods is unchanged as its principal markets 'remain subject to considerable uncertainty'.

International Power finished higher after it announced the closing of the takeover by GDF Suez, creating the world’s largest independent power producer. “The combined business creates a global leader in independent power generation with over 66,000MW of gross capacity in operation and committed projects expected to deliver 22,000MW of gross capacity by 2013, with strong positions in major regional markets and an attractive growth profile,” a statement said.

Infoserve Group (INFS), the online local business search and directory specialist, has announced its intention to seek shareholder approval for the cancellation of admission to trading on AIM and to change its name to CityVisitor Group. Separately in a trading update, the group added that it expects final results for the year ending 31st March 2011 to be "below previous expectations" after the severe weather in late November and December resulted in reduced revenues of around 60,000 pounds. Shares in Infoserve dropped 0.63p to 1p.

@UK* (ATUK) shares soared 2.37p to 11.75p on news the e-Business solutions provider assisted the National Audit Office in the preparation of a procurement report on consumables within the NHS entitled: "The procurement of consumables by NHS hospital trusts." The group, which provides its solutions to all sizes of organisations from a newly formed company to a major corporate or public sector, provided the analysis services to this report using its SpendInsight Service.

Adding further to its capabilities, Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) has completed the acquisition of 3e Technologies International for a cash consideration of 30 million dollars (19 million pounds) with an additional amount of up to 1 million dollars (0.62 million pounds) payable by early 2014. Commenting on this, Rakesh Sharma, chief operating officer of Ultra, said: "The acquisition of 3eTI adds its highly differentiated range of solutions to Ultra's portfolio of specialist capabilities related to secure networking, communication and cyber security." The shares edged up 1p to 1,801p.

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) is in talks over a possible takeover bid for rival JJB Sports (JJB), the struggling sportswear retailer. JD Sports confirmed that it was in "early stage discussions with the board of JJB Sports", but added that there was "no certainty that an offer will be made...nor as to the terms". In a separate announcement, the troubled retailer announced a long-awaited placing to raise 31.5 million pounds to cure a covenant breach on a 25 million pound facility with Lloyds Bank. Shares in JD Sports rose 14.5p to 862p, while JJB Sports shares climbed 0.75p to 5.35p.

Arbuthnot initiated coverage on defence group Manroy (MAN) with a "strong buy" rating and 110p target price. The broker notes the group's recent admittance to AIM and placing to raise 6 million pounds to assist in the future development of the business. Given the strength of the brand, the relationships in place and the growth opportunities available, Arbuthnot believes that a financial year 2011 multiple of 7x - broadly in line with the bottom end of the broad peer group range - is justified. Shares in Manroy advanced 5.5p to 88.5p.

Panmure Gordon initiated coverage on Compass Group (CPG), the food-service company, with a "buy" rating and 636p target price. The broker thinks that a change of emphasis in its strategy from 'margin' to 'top-line growth' appears to have unsettled the market. Yet, Panmure believes a combination of additional cash returns to shareholders and investors' preferences for relatively defensive stocks means that the shares offer ongoing upside potential. Compass shares edged up 5p to 556.5p.

ILX, a provider of e-learning software and business training, announced two contract extensions and two new contracts, which together underpin our existing forecasts and we re-iterate our recommendation of Buy. The company has indicated that the two contract extensions have a combined value of approximately £100,000. The first is with Logica plc to provide PRINCE2 software at both Foundation and practitioner levels for up to 100 of their employees in The Netherlands. While the second contract is with the global information provider, Thomson Reuters, for ITIL Overview and Foundation training as well as the management of examination bookings for their UK staff. ILX has also secured contracts with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (‘RICS’) and the Audit Commission. ILX will offer PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner level e-learning to all of RICS’ 150,000 members, via their secure learning portal at member-discount rate. While the Audit Commission will offer discounted PRINCE2 courses, through a bespoke portal, to over 1,000 staff currently at risk of redundancy. When the company releases results for the financial year ended 31st March 2011 in June, these will be presented in accordance with IFRS5 because of the closure and disposal of CTG, which means that the net financial performance of CTG will be shown after the ‘Profit After Tax’ figure. This change in presentation will help demonstrate the core business’ underlying trends and does not change our profit before tax and earnings per share (continuing business) expectations. We continue to value ILX using an undemanding 2012 financial year EV/EBITDA multiple of 5.5 times, which indicates a target price of 42.2p (previously 40.2p). However, we do anticipate a progressive expansion of this multiple as the group delivers against expectations and with the shares trading at 26p we reiterate our recommendation of BUY. Analyst: Philip Morrish Email: philip.morrish@gecr.co.uk Tel: 020 7562 3362