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News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $4,253,158.56 Rupert Murdoch 182,539 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $1,800,856.94 Chase Carey 77,290 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $1,712,340.24 Arthur Siskind 73,491 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $1,662,641.35 James Murdoch 71,358 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $1,498,422.95 David DeVoe 64,310 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $1,283,037.76 Rupert Murdoch 55,066 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $1,169,263.86 Rupert Murdoch 50,183 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $1,012,990.77 Chase Carey 43,476 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $942,205.37 Rupert Murdoch 40,438 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $858,651.57 Rupert Murdoch 36,852 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $787,866.17 Chase Carey 33,814 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $726,610.48 Arthur Siskind 31,185 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $600,790.48 James Murdoch 25,785 @ $23.30 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $533,822.30 Arthur Siskind 22,901 @ $23.31 News Corp. 'A' Shares Sell 15-Aug-12 $478,046.08 David DeVoe 20,517 @ $23.30

Kate Bostock, who is quitting her role as Executive Director of General Merchandise at Marks and Spencer, has taken advantage of the recent rise in the retailer's share price with a double sale of shares late on Thursday. Bostock, who announced her exit in July but will stay on until October, sold a total of 244,877 shares, taking her stake in the company to just 64,526 shares. 122,160 of the shares were sold post exercise for 356p a pop, while the remaining 122,717 shares were traded in for 359.40p.

With growth momentum improving at Laird, UBS has upgraded its recommendation on the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy' and raised its forecasts for the electrical components manufacturer.

Hold African Barrick Gold (ABG) until the bid situation becomes clear is the advice of Questor in the Daily Telegraph. Two state-owned companies have approached African Barrick Gold’s (ABG) parent company Barrick Gold with a view to making an offer for part, or whole, of ABG. Barrick Gold is continuing talks with China National Gold, after it apparently rejected a low-ball bid from Zijin Mining Group. Questor thinks Barrick Gold is more likely to sell a portion of its stake rather than sell out completely. This latest move by China may or may not mark the start of a wave of mergers in gold miners. However, the sector certainly looks ripe for consolidation for companies with the financial muscle to buy quality assets. Questor last said ABG shares were a speculative buy on July 24th when they stood at 317p. They are now 34% above that level and because the bid situation is unclear, the rating is now cut to hold.

What a difference a year makes, Tempus in The Times proclaims. When the Arab Spring was in full flow, investors worried that Hikma Pharmaceuticals was too exposed to the unstable region. The company, based in Jordan, almost halved last year’s sales growth forecast as governments fell. Now it looks well placed to benefit from the region’s recovery — and investors are grateful that it has largely escaped the eurozone crisis, which has seen governments slash healthcare spending. The company is gradually shifting production to the developing world, where costs are cheaper. Analysts say that Hikma has better growth prospects than its European rivals, a view confirmed by yesterday’s results. Shares rose five per cent yesterday, but are still off the high reached before the Arab Spring unfolded. Now an Arab Spring premium should apply. Buy, says Tempus.

Panmure Gordon reiterated its "buy" recommendation for Bodycote (BOY) with an increased target price of 540p, from 505p. The broker is very impressed with the strength of the thermal processing company's balance sheet, claiming it is far superior to those of its larger peers, Cookson (CKSN) and Morgan Crucible (MGCR). Panmure added that the group has improved its product mix, with greater exposure to the higher margin later cycle end-markets.

Shore Capital retained its "sell" stance for Go-Ahead Group (GOG), raising concerns that the public transport operator will be impacted by subsidy cuts and increased costs in the 2013 financial year. The broker also noted that the firm is on the shortlist for only one rail franchise, Thames-link, which will be awarded in May 2013. Shore believes that this is a must win contract for Go-Ahead, as its current dividend rate cannot be covered by cash flows from buses alone

Summary and Outlook Hikma has delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2012. The global Injectables business is delivering excellent growth and our Branded business is performing very well. This is being partially offset by the decline in the Generics business. The Group remains on track to meet our full year target of around 20% revenue growth. We are expecting stronger sales growth in the MENA region in the second half and we continue to expect our Branded business to deliver around 20% revenue growth for the full year, with gross margin and adjusted operating margin broadly in line with 2011. However, if the Sudanese pound and the Algerian dinar remain at their current levels relative to the US dollar for the remainder of the year, we would expect a small negative impact on our margin outlook. Given the current market environment and the continued demand for our injectable products, we expect the performance of the global Injectables business in the first half of 2012 will be sustained in the second half of the year. In our Generics business, we now expect revenue of around $115 million and the business to break even for the full year. Overall we are pleased with the progress of the Group in the first half and the outlook for the full year. Going concern statement As stated in note 2 to the condensed financial statements, the Directors are satisfied that the Group has sufficient resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future, a period of not less than twelve months from the date of this report. Accordingly they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the condensed financial statements.

Outlook The global PV market is now at a transition in its development with growth of installations in China, Japan and the USA expected to compensate for the reduced demand following policy adjustments in key markets in Europe. Consequently, little global market growth is forecast in 2012/2013 and the pressure on pricing and the intensely competitive market are expected to continue. The Board expects that the difficult trading conditions will persist and that the Group will incur an operating loss in the second half. Cash conservation measures will continue with significantly reduced production levels and customer shipments. Full year shipment volumes are expected to be in the range 100-120MW. The Group's average selling prices are expected to be maintained significantly above spot levels. While the Group continues to believe in the positive long-term outlook for PV, it is mindful of the intensely competitive environment which is likely to persist in the short to medium-term and which has already led to many companies exiting the industry, either voluntarily or through insolvency. The Group has a strong net cash balance and the Board will make the necessary decisions during the remainder of the year to serve the best interests of shareholders.

Considering the news , the SP held up well today however it will be under pressure in the days ahead. The Chinese economy is keeping the rest of the world alive just now but it also has its down side as in the news here.

Iain Dorrity, Chief Executive Officer commented; "Trading conditions during the first half of 2012 have been extremely challenging and this has had a significant impact on our trading performance. However, the settlement that we reached in May for early termination of a long term contract has resulted in a strong net cash position at the period end. Looking forward, the intensely competitive market conditions are not expected to improve in the short term and so we continue with our cash conservation strategy. The Board will make the necessary decisions during the remainder of the year to serve the best interests of shareholders."

Market overview · Industry oversupply primarily from China leading to intense pressure on pricing · Wafer spot pricing down 70% during twelve months to April 2012, and are continuing to fall · Formal antidumping investigations in USA and Europe into unfair trade practices from Chinese PV companies Overview of results · Wafer shipments 61MW (H1 2011: 204MW) · Revenues €32.6m (H1 2011: €129.6m) · EBIT loss of €12.2m (H1 2011: profit of €24.3m) · Cash settlement on termination of long term contract of c. €90m leading to net cash of €122.4m at the period end (end 2011: €22.6m)

Commenting on the results, Philip Beck, Chairman and CEO of Planet Payment said: "During the first half of 2012, we continued to execute our strategy and invest in new business and markets, building a strong pipeline for the future. As demonstrated by our new customer launches, the market for our services remains strong as we continue to build our business." Additional breakdown on the Company's performance can be found in the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations appended to this release. In accordance with the rules of the OTCQX market, the Company's Half-yearly Report, including its Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements (unaudited), as of June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011and for the six months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011 have been posted on the OTCQX website at www.otcqx.com and on the Company's website at www.planetpayment.com.

CURRENT TRADING The Company expects to see continuing growth in active merchant locations, during the remainder of 2012, from both existing customers and those that have recently implemented and launched services with Planet Payment. The Company intends to continue to invest in supporting new business, new markets implementations and new pipeline, although the benefit of these investments may only be realized in subsequent periods. The Company may continue to see slower growth in Consolidated Gross Billings and net revenue from existing customers, as a result of the current challenging economic environment. Based on these and other factors referenced above, the Company expects full year revenue growth comparable to the first half of 2012, and expects net income and Adjusted EBITDA for the 2012 year to be relatively flat compared to 2011, unless economic conditions improve.

Our results reflect a 50% increase in active merchant locations over the last twelve months and growth of 23% and 25% in Consolidated Gross Billings and Gross Foreign Currency Mark-up respectively in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. The growth in our financial results, however was muted by a number of factors. The challenging economic climate, which our merchants and their customers are facing, led to a decline in net revenue per merchant location. The increase in our operating costs compared to 2011 primarily reflects additions to technology and support personnel to invest in the growth of the business and future launches into new markets. Notwithstanding the economic climate, we believe that the growth in the key operating metrics of active merchant locations, Consolidated Gross Billings and Gross Foreign Currency Mark-up are indicative of the underlying strength of our business During the first six months of 2012, we continued to expand our acquiring customer base, in particular announcing an agreement with China UnionPay to provide processing support for China UnionPay's credit and debit cards on a worldwide basis. We also announced agreements with Citibank, Hong Kong and Macau, Citibank Philippines and Mashreq in UAE to provide our Pay in Your Currency service in those countries. In April 2012, the Company launched Pay in Your Currency for ATM service with Vantiv in the United States. During the period we launched a number of acquiring bank solutions, including Pay in Your Currency services with Global Payments, Canada, Mashreq, Citibank Philippines and Citibank Hong Kong. We also launched our MICROS Payment Gateway service with Banorte in Mexico. Planet Payment is currently working to implement and roll out additional acquiring bank, processor and merchant offerings. Together these customers represent a robust pipeline of new business for Planet Payment. In May 2012, the Company announced the acquisition of Branded Payment Solutions Ltd ("BPS"), an Irish payments company based in Dublin. This acquisition expands the scope of Planet Payment's global technology solutions. Planet Payment currently interfaces to the merchant's point of sale through its proprietary, currency-neutral, payment processing technology platform, but does not provide applications on the point of sale. We believe that the acquisition of BPS will enable us to implement additional value-added solutions at a merchant's point of sale.

Operational Highlights · Total active merchant locations increased by 50% to 34,172 as of June 30, 2012 (as of June 30, 2011: 22,825). (See Table 2 for explanation of this metric.) · Settled multi-currency dollar volume processed increased 24% to $1,309m (H1 '11: $1,057m). · Entered into a number of new contracts, notably a global agreement with China UnionPay. · Launched services with Global Payments Canada, Vantiv ATMs in the United States, Mashreq UAE, Citibank Philippines, Citibank Hong Kong and Banorte Mexico. · Acquisition of Branded Payment Solutions Ltd, which the Company believes will enable it to implement additional value-added solutions at a merchant's point of sale.

Planet Payment Reports First Half 2012 Results NET REVENUE INCREASES 10% NET LOSS ($0.4M) MILLION; ADJUSTED EBITDA $1.9M Planet Payment, Inc. (UK: LSE: AIM: PPT and PPTR; USA: OTCQX: PLPM), a leading provider of international payment processing and multi-currency processing services, today announced its results for the six months ended June 30, 2012. During the first half of 2012, the Company achieved the following operating results: Financial Highlights · Net revenue for the period increased 10% to $21.8m (H1 '11: $19.9m). · Consolidated Gross Billings increased 23% to $57.7m (H1 '11: $47.0m). (See Table 2 for explanation of this metric). · Gross Foreign Currency Mark-up increased 25% to $50.2m (H1'11: $40.2m). (See Table 2 for explanation of this metric). · Net (loss) income decreased to ($0.4m) (H1'11: $1.0m), after expenses relating to the Branded Payment Solutions Ltd acquisition, as well as certain other professional fees, totalling $0.3m. · Adjusted EBITDA for the period was $1.9m (H1 '11: $2.6m). See Table 1 for reconciliation of net (loss) income to Adjusted EBITDA.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201208160700061255K

Im surprised there was not more chat on here today - rise in SP was also fairly muted. I know its early stages but I expected a better reaction today

Statement regarding today's announcement by Barrick Gold Corporation ("Barrick") The Board of ABG notes the announcement made today by Barrick in which Barrick confirmed that it is in preliminary discussions with China National Gold Group Corporation ("China Gold") regarding its holding in ABG. At this stage, there can be no certainty that these discussions will result in an offer for Barrick's holding in ABG. Should China Gold acquire more than 30% of the voting interest in ABG, it would then be required to make an offer for the whole of ABG's issued ordinary share capital. The Panel Executive has confirmed to Barrick on an ex parte basis that, in view of Barrick's 73.9 per cent stake in ABG, the 28 day deadline referred to in Rule 2.6(a) of the Code will not apply to China Gold in respect of this announcement.