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Production at Cote D’Ivore-based Randgold Resources’ Tongon mine has returned to normal after a fire in the mills section of the plant three weeks ago, an announcement from the company issued on Monday morning showed. Both mill circuits are expected to be fully operational within two weeks.

A strong finish to 2012 and an improved outlook for the global manufacturing sector have given Spectris renewed confidence for the New Year, prompting investors to drive up shares in the maker of precision instruments. Nevertheless, and like the sector as a whole, through its supply of equipment designed to enhance productivity in the manufacturing sector, Spectris is reliant upon the wider macroeconomic environment, and – like the sector as a whole – has endured a tough few years. At one point it was even forced to cut 10% of its workforce and ask remaining staff to forgo bonuses and take unpaid leave. Since then, the group has recovered its footing, and last year broadened its exposure to the recovering US market with the $475m acquisition of Omega Engineering. The result is that the British group’s revenues are now roughly equally split between North America, Europe and Asia, the Financial Times’ Weekend edition wrote.

They say it's better to travel than to arrive - and that's probably why shares in house builder Bovis Homes moved lower on Friday, despite a cracking update. The shares have more than doubled since June last year, so there was plenty of profit to bank. As with all sector players, earnings growth is mainly a margins story. Companies are selling homes built on cheaper land that was bought after markets imploded in 2007 and 2008. This helped margins to surge to 13.5% from 10% in 2011. The 2013 price earnings multiple is 15.8, falling to 12.8 in 2014. This does not look too overstretched, given the margin story. Once mortgage lending improves - which it should with the help of projects such as Funding for Lending - profits should get another leg-up. The Sunday Telegraph’s Questor team keeps a buy rating.

Analysts expect Europe’s biggest independent mobile retailer, Carphone Warehouse, to have had a good Christmas. They will know for sure on Thursday, when it unveils third-quarter trading, which includes the crucial holiday period. The City expects the firm to report a 4% increase in like-for-like sales, with one of the principal reasons for that being its big push into tablets. Betting on a whizzy new gadget isn’t rocket science, but nor is it a given. After all, online music didn’t exactly sneak up on HMV — the first music-sharing website, Napster, was launched in 1999. But the company never came up with a strategy to deal with the stampede online. Carphone is not without risks. UBS rates its stock a “buy”, but its Friday closing price of 217p is already beyond the 210p target set by the investment bank. The shares have surged by a third in the past three months, benefiting from the run-up to Christmas and the ebullience of rivals such as Dixons, which has seen personal electronics flying off the shelves. The stock may have got a bit ahead of the news. Also, the question mark over Carphone’s ill-fated joint venture with the American retailing giant Best Buy remains unresolved, writes The Sunday Times’s Danny Fortson.

Dairy Crest supplies a third of the country’s milk, including all that sold by Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. Sainsbury’s and Morrison – but not Tesco – are key customers, too, as well as corner shops, hospitals and restaurants. But milk is a commodity and profit margins are low, so the company has to work hard to deliver returns to investors and keep customers and suppliers happy. The firm has made tangible progress towards that end and Chief Executive Mark Allen intends to lift the milk division’s profits from about 10m pounds to about 30m pounds over two to three years. Dairies are being merged, new machines have been acquired that process milk faster and more efficiently and the business has invested heavily in software that will ensure it transports milk more cost-effectively. Furthermore, the firm is doing much better with dairy products. Last year, Allen sold French spreads firm St Hubert for 344m pounds, since when he has been looking for acquisitions. For the year to this March, brokers expect profits of 50m pounds rising to nearly 60m pounds in 2014. The dividend is forecast at 22p in 2013, rising to 23p in 2014, so the stock is on a yield of more than 5%. Lastly, milk prices have at least started to rise recently and the outlook is better than it has been for years. At 4001⁄2p, the shares offer good, long-term value. The shares should increase. Buy, says The Financial Mail on Sunday’s Midas column.

Keith Neilson, CEO of Craneware,commented, "The increased levels of sales activity discussed at the time of our final results in September 2012 have begun to contribute to revenue growth. Fiscal and regulatory pressures on US hospitals, including the recently announced expansion of the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor Program, continues to drive interest in our suite of software solutions and we are confident in the ongoing strength of our position within this growing area of the US healthcare market."

Trading Update 21 January 2013 - Craneware(AIM: CRW.L), the market leader in automated revenue integrity solutions for the US healthcare market, provides an update on trading for the six month period ended 31 December 2012. Trading has been positive in the first half of the financial year and the Company expects to report revenue growth to $20.1m (H112: $18.8m) with further growth at the adjusted EBITDA level of approximately 15% in comparison to the same period in the prior year (H112: $4.65m). This performance is in line with management's expectations, delivering similar first half to second half expectation splits as those seen in the previous financial year.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/craneware-plc-(crw)/rns/trading-update/201301210700069376V/

Dave Shemmans, CEO, commented: "We are encouraged by our solid orderbook and pipeline, as well as the continued progress in implementing our strategic growth plans, including diversification into neighbouring market sectors. We remain confident of further progress both in the half and full year."

The recent acquisition of AEA Europe, announced in November 2012, is delivering to plan, both in terms of expected trading performance and the integration into the wider Ricardo business. Clients and employees have received Ricardo's ownership extremely well. The Performance Products business continues to be busy with high levels of motorsport activity including further Bugatti transmission orders, continued assembly of super car engines and defence vehicles and the Malaysian rail programme entering the production phase. We continue to manage our working capital very well and despite the recent acquisition, we closed the end of December with only marginal net debt balance and a strong balance sheet.

Trading Update Ricardo plc ('Ricardo' or 'the Group'), a market leading engineering, automotive and environmental consultancy, is today providing a trading update for the six month period ending 31 December 2012. Ricardo will announce its interim results on 28 February 2013. Since our Interim Management Statement issued in November 2012, business performance has tracked to plan, with order intake across multiple geographies and business segments. Within Technical Consulting, the UK operations have continued to secure a good stream of business and we continue to work on existing multiyear programmes with key UK clients. In addition, further work has been secured in Japan and the pipeline of activity continues to build in China where starter programmes have been won which should lead to multiyear programmes. Mainland Europe remains benign although work from a large engine client and a Chinese motorcycle manufacturer is offsetting the reduction in test bed revenue in our German division. Our US division has maintained its strong order book position built earlier in the financial year.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/ricardo-plc-(rcdo)/rns/trading-update/201301140700063754V/

The Science Minister has lobbied the NHS to increase its use of an AstraZeneca heart medicine, amid mounting political concern about the drugs company’s commitment to British jobs. David Willetts has urged health officials to accelerate the uptake of Brilique, a blood thinner used to treat patients suffering from severe angina or heart attacks, which has sold poorly despite winning a green light from the NHS’s cost-effectiveness watchdog in 2011. His intervention has emerged as Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s new chief executive, re-examines priorities for research and development investment. Last year, the group announced 7,300 job losses worldwide and there are fears of further cuts at AstraZeneca’s research hub at Alderley Park, Cheshire. [The Times]

Up another 15+% - well I certainly got out of this waaaayy too early

Nice one PRM - especially for Alzheimer's sufferers

Dr. Ian Pike, Chief Operating Officer commented :- "These results further validate PS Biomarker Services' proteomic approach in discovery of new drug targets in challenging diseases. By diligently following the tau hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease we have been able to develop exciting new therapeutic strategies that are increasingly recognised by the scientific community as important components of the fight to halt Alzheimer's disease progression. We believe that inhibiting CK1D will be an important component in treatment of AD and we will concentrate on rapidly developing these assets." Christopher Pearce, CEO said :- "Our goal was to deliver in-vivo proof of principle for CK1D in Alzheimer's disease. We are delighted that this has been successfully achieved in 2012. These results are most timely as major pharmaceutical companies and academia have increasingly been switching attention to the importance of tau tangles in combination with amyloid aggregation in Alzheimer's. In light of UK Government's recent commitment to fully fund NHS access to novel treatments for AD we believe there is significant potential for CK1D inhibitors to positively affect the lives of sufferers and their carers. We will continue to push our CK1D programme forward and will actively engage with the pharmaceutical industry to bring our compounds to clinical trials as soon as possible".

In-vivo study shows CK1D inhibitors improve cognition in Alzheimer's model 31st December, 2012 Proteome Sciences is pleased to announce that the in-vivo study of its proprietary CK1D inhibitor programme in Alzheimer's disease was completed as anticipated in December 2012. Having already confirmed earlier in the year that CK1D inhibitors block tau phosphorylation in cell lines in an in-vitro study, Proteome Sciences is delighted to announce that both of its lead compounds for CK1D have demonstrated improved cognitive function in the current study. These results provide important in-vivo proof of principle and demonstrate the efficacy of our compounds. The next phase will start immediately in January to undertake and complete a comprehensive assessment of biological indicators and drug levels in various tissues.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/proteome-sciences-(prm)/rns/ck1d-update/201212310700074741U/

Submission of Declaration of Commerciality in Tripura Block for Kathalchari Discovery Jubilant is pleased to announce that on 28th December 2012 the Company submitted a Declaration of Commerciality for the Kathalchari discovery in the Tripura block to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons for approval. Following receipt of the necessary Government approval of the Declaration of Commerciality, the operator will submit a field development plan to the Government. The above gas discovery was originally made in the Tripura block in late 2009 with the Phase-I exploration well Kathalchari-1("KL-1"). The appraisal plan for the Kathalchari discovery was approved in February 2011, which was followed by the acquisition, processing and interpretation of 252.5 line kilometres of 2D seismic data within the appraisal area. In addition to the discovery well KL-1, two appraisal wells and one Phase-II exploration well have been drilled to evaluate the discovery. Jubilant holds a 20% participating interest in this block through its subsidiary Jubilant Oil & Gas Private Limited, India, which is also the operator for the block. GAIL India Limited holds the remaining 80% participating interest.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/jubilant-energy-n.v.-(jub)/rns/declaration-of-commerciality-in-tripura/201212310700135257U/