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http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205170700285415D

Andrew Brown, Executive Director of Intandem, says: "Stephen Gyllenhaal has created a sophisticated and highly watchable 'David versus Goliath' comedy with Grassroots. "For Intandem, being appointed sales agent for Grassroots on the back of Devlin and 10 Things I Hate About Life is great news, and is part of our strategy to secure the sales rights to several major films during the course of 2012." Director Stephen Gyllenhaal comments: "I'm delighted to be working with Intandem. I can't think of a more perfect moment for the hilarious, poignant, inspiring story of Grassroots to be released than in tandem with the 2012 US election with its super PACs, media buys and multi-millionaire candidates!"

Yes going well just now - I would be back in at these levels but like most I assume , I am getting screwed off the park elsewhere and no spare cash ....grrrrrr

Dr. Terry Kirkpatrick, Nematologist with the University of Arkansas, was one of the first people to identify this phenomenon. A team at the University of Arkansas, led by Dr. Kirkpatrick, Burt Blohm, and graduate student, Sandeep Sharma has initiated research to uncover the biochemical reactions that cause this documented effect in plants. Dr. Kirkpatrick states, "It has been scientifically proven where plants have been challenged by Harpin, there are fewer nematodes. The reproductive rate of nematodes in the presence of Harpin-treated plants is definitely affected. This has been demonstrated in the green house and in the field, so what we're doing now is the pure and basic research that will enable us to get a better handle on the plant mechanism that causes the reduction in nematode eggs." Dr. Zhongmin Wei, Chief Scientific Officer, Plant Health Care, says, "I'm excited to work with Dr. Kirkpatrick and his staff to further expand our understanding of this exciting protein platform. By gaining insight into the specific mode of action that causes Harpin-treated plants to be less attractive to nematodes, we can assemble specific Harpin combinations that deliver more powerful effects on targeted nematode species.

Plant Health Care plc announces research cooperation to determine Harpin protein mode of action against nematodes. Plant Health Care is pleased to announce it has entered into a research partnership with one of the leading scientists in the field of Nematology from the University of Arkansas. The partnership has been established to determine the biochemical reactions in Plant Health Care's Harpin protein, that causes its documented effectiveness against a wide variety of nematodes and, in particular, the Soybean Cyst species that has proven to be resistant to most conventional chemicals. Nematodes cause billions of dollars of damage to crops around the world annually and Harpin has been a proven deterrent to this pest. Harpin proteins are signal molecules that alert plants to the presence of pathogens, particularly bacteria. Their attachment to receptors on the plants' surfaces initiates a cascade of genetic responses that promote plant health, encourage disease resistance, and defend against nematodes. Trials at the University of Arkansas, Cornell University, Auburn University, Mississippi State University, Illinois State University, Michigan State, Texas A&M, and others have shown up to 60% reductions of nematode eggs on plant roots when the seed or the early-developing plant itself has been activated by Harpin protein technology. Unlike conventional chemical nematicides, Harpins affect parasitic plant nematodes without affecting beneficial soil nematodes, which are the bulk of nematode species found in healthy soil.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205170700335251D

Peel Hunt upgrades Enterprise Inns from sell to hold, target price raised from 40p to 70p.

Richard Cousins, Group Chief Executive, said: "Compass has had a positive start to the year, delivering revenue growth of nearly 9% and organic growth of 5%. We have continued to see high levels of new business wins and retention across the Group, with particularly good trading momentum in our North America and Fast Growing & Emerging regions. We are continuing to generate cost efficiencies, which are enabling us to invest in the many growth opportunities we see across the Group, with increasing emphasis on emerging markets. Looking forward, whilst we are not immune from the current economic difficulties in Europe, the fundamentals of the business are strong and I remain excited about the opportunities for future growth and margin progression." Sir Roy Gardner, Chairman, said: "These results demonstrate that the business continues to make good progress in delivering quality, sustainable growth. Despite the ongoing headwinds of food cost inflation and challenging economic conditions in Europe, we have achieved good rates of revenue and profit growth. We remain committed to rewarding shareholders at the same time as investing in the future of the business, and we have therefore increased the interim dividend by 11%."

Positive momentum in top line growth, driven by good levels of new business wins and a consistently high rate of retention. - Total revenue up 8.6% year on year, including contribution from acquisitions. - Organic revenue growth of 5.0%. - Strong performances in North America and Fast Growing & Emerging. Cash flow generation remains strong and we continue to make acquisitions and reward shareholders. - Interim dividend increased by 11%. - £188 million spent on acquisitions in the first half of the year. - On track to complete £500 million share buy back by the calendar year-end. The future prospects of the Group remain encouraging. - Expectations for the full year remain positive and unchanged. - Compass remains well placed to exploit significant growth opportunities, particularly in North American and Fast Growing & Emerging markets. - Further efficiency gains underpin our expectation of future improvement in the operating profit margin.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205160700274236D

Canaccord Genuity reiterated its "buy" stance on Optos (OPTS) with the expectation that the retinal imaging company will unveil significant international growth come its interims this month. The broker's recent survey of US optometrists showed a steady increase in customers over the past two years, with retinal imaging remaining a key focus as 33% of optometrists admitted they planned to acquire new imaging products in the near future. Canaccord has a 333p price target on the shares based on a 2012 EV/EBITDA multiple of 6.4, but believes there is the potential for upgrades

N+1 Brewin initiated coverage on foam manufacturer Zotefoams (ZTF) with an "add" recommendation and 200p price target. The broker recognises the share price has been a 'stunning performer' in the year to date, trading more than 50% higher, but Brewin continues to see long-term value in the group. Its ambitious management team, consistent financial track record - which has seen profits double in the past five years - and conservative forecasts leave the broker bullish about the stock

Panmure Gordon maintained its "hold" recommendation and 875p price target on Cranswick (CWK) ahead of its final results next week. This is despite the belief that the food supplier will show improved margin performance in the second half of the year to March. The broker recognises that Cranswick remains one of the quality plays with UK mid to small cap food sector but believe that this is reflected in its current earnings multiple of 11.4 times.

In the Telegraph Questor remains loyal to his recommendation for mining royalty firm Anglo Pacific. Royalties were sharply down in the first quarter but Questor believes this is due to temporary problems at a Rio Tinto mine in Queensland. The stock has gone in the opposite direction to the FTSE 100 in the last nine months, so buy on weakness is the conclusion.

The rather odd assortment of engineering firms that make up Smiths Group somehow works as a business concludes Tempus in the Times. The big idea was that some of the divisions may have been sold, with flexible tubes outfit Flex-Tek the main candidate, but the US housing market has put paid to that and with the shares at 12 times earnings Tempus thinks Smiths is a leave.

A Greek exit from the euro could be a moneyspinner for G4S, which is eyeing the prospect of an elaborate security operation if millions of drachma notes and coins have to be rushed into circulation. Its chief executive Nick Buckles said yesterday that Greece was the company’s fastest-growing cash-handling market in Europe as economic uncertainty encourages businesses to keep money at hand. “Our biggest contingency issue would arise if the country were to leave the euro and go back to the drachma, because basically we would be involved in the whole swap-out of the currency,” Mr Buckles said, The Times says.

AstraZeneca is understood to be considering a potential $4bn bid for an American maker of diabetes medicines. The Anglo-Swedish drug group is believed to be among a number of the world’s largest pharmaceuticals companies to have requested financial information on Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Amylin, which is based in San Diego, makes the diabetes drugs Bydureon and Byetta, has a market value of more than $4bn (£2.5bn) and generated $650m of sales last year. It appointed Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs to assess takeover interest this year and first-round bids are understood to be due in the next two weeks. The American companies Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck are said to be interested, as are Sanofi of France, the Japanese group Takeda and Roche of Switzerland, says The Times.

should be a good day here

Adds Barry McAleer: "This assay is a variation on how we have used our technology to date and it has enabled the product to be developed in 1-month. Really, we did this work as proof-of-concept but now we are ready to expand our products rapidly and on three fronts. Firstly we will develop further assays in humans that will allow us to measure many more hundreds of proteins in CSF. Secondly we will apply these principles to expand the protein numbers we can measure in human plasma. Thirdly, we will introduce assays for the same proteins in rat and monkey species." "What we now know is that we can offer assays to our customers that will enable them to find biomarkers in different animal species models and that can be applied at different stages of drug development, both pre-clinical and clinical. When they find the key protein biomarkers we can place them all into a single, cross-species assay." "The speed with which we can develop these assays (three times faster than our previous assays), in multiple species and with hundreds of analytes, signifies a huge step forward in the speed with which we can look to grow our business. We go from strength to strength in our drive to be a leader in providing high quality assays for many proteins for which until now there were no assays." Klaus Rosenau, Chairman of NextGen Group PLC, explains: "The rapid progress we continue to make in our technical capabilities and in the release of new products is opening up a very significant set of new resources to customers who are focused on using biomarkers to drive sustainable drug development programmes." "We intend to rapidly exploit our current and near future products within the project engine pipeline of the NextGen Sciences Dx business. We have several projects within our diagnostics project engine that are at different stages in progress as we seek to generate further intellectual property and seek out biomarker sale/licencing/testing routes to build value for our shareholders."

Explains Barry McAleer: "We can now apply our technology to make custom assays for our customers in human CSF and plasma, in multiple species and for hundreds of proteins. We can do it in just a few months." "Make no mistake, what we are developing here is the tip of the assay iceberg. The quality of the assays and the numbers of proteins which in a short timeframe we will be able to assay is going open up massive potential to our NextGen's diagnostics subsidiary in its own research programmes for the discovery of diagnostic markers in CNS disorders." NextGen uses mass spectrometry (a technique for specifically identifying and quantifying biomarkers in samples) as its core technology to discover highly specific protein biomarkers that can be used for diagnostic purposes. In 2010, the total global market for biomarkers was an estimated $13.5 billion and is expected to grow to nearly $33.3 billion by the end of 2015 (BCC Research).