Member Info for mulledwine

The Group continues to grow its revenue generating meter asset base from its existing gas supply customers in both the domestic and the industrial and commercial ("I&C") markets. As reported at the interim stage, D-ENERGI and Vayu Limited have been added as contracted customers bringing the total number of gas suppliers signed under service contracts for the operation and management of gas meters to 14. Trials have progressed successfully with the now fully "zone zero" accredited ADM automated meter reading device. The ADM solution offers our customers a substantially cheaper meter reading alternative to the current manual read services within the I&C market - a key incentive for gas suppliers to adopt the solution. Alan Foy, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are pleased to provide an update on trading for the last financial year ahead of market expectations. We have made solid progress since the flotation in July 2011 with investment in meter assets increasing and with the ADM device continuing to trial very successfully. We have also strengthened the senior management team and are confident of further growth during 2012."

Trading Update Smart Metering Systems plc (AIM: SMS.L), the integrated metering services company that connects, owns, operates and maintains current generation and new advanced metering assets and databases is pleased to provide the following update on trading. Based on unaudited management accounts for the 12 months to 31 December 2011, the Group expects that its results will be ahead of current market expectations. The full year results will be published in mid-April 2012. Financial Highlights · Strong trading performance for the year to 31 December 2011 · Successful admission to trading on AiM and £10m of gross proceeds raised in July 2011 · Increased lease finance facility made available by Clydesdale Bank plc in October 2011, extending the available facility from £12m to £19.5m · Revenue increased by 29% to £16m (2010: £12.4m) · Gross profit increased by 62% to £8.9m (2010: £5.5m) · Adjusted EBITDA* increased by 97% to £5.7m (2010: £2.9m) *Excluding exceptional items Operational Highlights · Gas meter portfolio increased to 254,000 at 31 December 2011, an increase of c.12% from IPO (at 30 June 2011; 227,000) and an increase of c.19% from the previous year (2010: 214,000) · Recurring meter rental income increased by 29% to £7.6m as of 31 December 2011 (2010: £5.9m) · £9.2m invested in meter assets during 2011 · Successful trials of ADM smart metering device with major gas supplier customers

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201202150700294289X

Diageo CEO offloads 90,000 shares Paul Walsh, the Chief Executive Officer at Diageo, the FTSE 100 beverage giant, has sold off a bumper-load of shares in the firm. Walsh, who disposed of 90,000 shares at 1,500.00p each for a total of £1.35m, made the transaction on February 13th, just a few days after the company reported an 8% rise in net sales for the half year ended December 31st. Walsh, who has been CEO since September 2000, was granted the shares in October 2008 at £8.77 each in 2008 under the company's Senior Executive Share Option Plan.

In the Times the Tempus column runs the rule over property firm Helical Bar and decides it does not really measure up. In the last three months of last year 13 of the group's tenants went out of business or failed to renew their rents, cutting income by over £700,000, and there’s the rub for investors with Helical Bar. Its office blocks and retail spaces are not in high demand. Nor did it gamble during the downturn and buy up every available plot of land like some of its bigger rivals. Tempus thinks this stock is best left well alone until the projects it has now begun to develop actually come on to the market.

Coverage InterContinental Hotels Group has whacked up the full year dividend by 15% after it continued to outperform the hotel industry in key markets such as the US and Greater China in 2011. Revenue in 2011 rose 9%, or 7% on a constant exchange rates (CER) basis, to $1,768m from $1,628m in 2010, ahead of market expectations of $1,761m. Operating profit surged 26% (CER:25%) to $559m from $444m the year before, and underlying earnings per share rose 32% to 130.4 cents from 2010's 98.6 cents.

Richard Solomons, Chief Executive of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, said: "The strength of our brands, underpinned by our global systems and scale, delivered 6.2% growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the year. We have continued to outperform the industry in key markets such as the US and Greater China where RevPAR was up 7.9% and 10.7% respectively. We are strengthening our business through developing our brand portfolio supported by targeted investment. We also ensure that our hotels with our best in class delivery systems are known for industry leading guest experiences delivered by talented people and dedicated owners. Looking ahead, in spite of considerable uncertainty in the Eurozone, IHG is well positioned globally to benefit from positive long term industry trends and, in particular, growing demand in emerging markets. Our 15% dividend growth reflects the confidence we have in our ability to deliver high quality growth through market share and margin gains, due to our preferred brands, geographic diversity, robust balance sheet and scalable business model."

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201202140700303440X

Richard Kellett-Clarke, IDOX CEO, said: "We are delighted to be working with the GLA to take its highly regarded Information Service forward to facilitate greater integration of information with enhanced delivery. We are already working with a number of other public sector bodies to aid their decision making processes by ensuring their staff have ready access to their internal experience, knowledge and research which is tracked, and enhanced, by our specialist Information Service."

Wins five-year Information Service contract with Greater London Authority IDOX plc (AIM: IDOX, 'IDOX' or the 'Group'), a leading independent supplier of software and services, announces that its Information Solutions division has won a five-year contract to manage the Information Service of the Greater London Authority (GLA), following a competitive tender process. The contract is worth £800,000 across the five-year period and commenced in January 2012. IDOX will focus on delivery of the GLA's intelligence function, supporting evidence-based decision and policy making across the capital. Idox Information Solutions supplies its Information Service products to more than 140 local authority clients across the UK, providing more than 9,000 individual members with access to enquiries, bulletins, book loans and databases. The scope of services provided includes: · An enquiry service providing information on policy issues · Written briefing and topic papers · A remote loans/document delivery service · Purchase and provision of journals, e-journals and related resources · Training to strengthen information literacy · Provision of electronic information bulletins · Access to social/urban affairs databases.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201202140700503401X

Ian Cookson, CEO of IDS, said: "As part of our strategy to diversify our product offering, we are pleased to have received FDA clearance for this important assay. The ability to offer Intact PTH on the IDS-iSYS in the US complements our automated 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D assay and will further facilitate the placement of IDS- iSYS systems.

IDS gains FDA clearance for a new specialist assay Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings plc, a leading producer of diagnostic testing kits and automated systems for the clinical and research markets, today announces that clearance has been received from the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for the Company's Intact PTH automated immunoassay kit, enabling this product to be sold in the USA. The Intact PTH assay is intended for the quantitative determination of parathyroid hormone levels in human serum or plasma on the IDS-iSYS automated analyser. Results of the tests are to be used in the differential diagnosis of hypercalcemia and hypocalcemia resulting from disorders of calcium metabolism, which will enable doctors to more accurately diagnose parathyroid disease and to monitor patients undergoing renal dialysis and other diseases caused by calcium homeostasis.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201202140700513464X

Alex Gostevskikh, Managing Director, said: "We are delighted to launch the 2012 drilling programme so early in the year. 2012 will be a very important year for our Company as we advance from our conceptual model and uranium discovery through to defining a maiden resource. Our drill targeting is based on a comprehensive interpretation of geochemical, mineralogical, and radiometric data and we hope we can significantly shorten the exploration cycle for our project."

Commences Drilling at Mtonya Uranium Project Uranium Resources plc, the AIM-listed uranium exploration company, announces the commencement of its 2012 drilling campaign at its 100%-owned Mtonya Project in southern Tanzania. As previously set out in the Company's announcement of 12 December 2011, URA has identified three tiers of reduction-alteration at Mtonya. The Company's 2012 programme is designed to comprise 20,000 metres of open-hole and diamond-core drilling and pursue the following objectives: · further test the roll-fronts identified in tier 2 at depths of 240-260 metres; · identify and establish geometries for roll-fronts in tier 1 at depths of 170-200 metres; and · test for uranium mineralisation in tier 3 at depths of 300-320 metres. Drilling is currently underway by a single rig, with further rigs to be deployed during the course of the campaign. The 2012 programme will be executed by several drill rigs simultaneously with part of the fleet to target tight-spaced drilling with a view of establishing a maiden resource estimate while the other rigs will be extending the already known roll-fronts laterally. The 2011 drilling and results of the recent mineralogical studies suggest similarities with the well-known sandstone-hosted roll-front uranium deposits of Kazakhstan and the USA.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201202140700323460X

Sean Finlay, Aurum's Chairman, said: "The ongoing drilling at El Facho is progressing well and I look forward to providing updates on progress from this programme, and from the initial drilling on the highly prospective Peralonso permit area, in due course."

Drilling update for Aurum's Spanish gold joint venture Aurum Mining plc ("Aurum" or "the Company") is pleased to update the market on the ongoing drilling campaign on the "El Facho" structure of its Zamora gold project through its Spanish joint venture with Ormonde Mining plc ("Ormonde") (AIM: ORM). Previous drilling on the structure has already intersected gold of mineable grades and widths. The currently proposed nine hole drilling programme is focused on testing and expanding the structure at El Facho over a strike length of 600 metres. It is hoped the results of the programme will provide further strong evidence of a significant gold structure at the El Facho prospect. By way of background, of the nine holes drilled by Ormonde at El Facho prior to the current drilling programme, eight encountered gold mineralisation grading in excess of 1 g/t across multiple intersections and one of the most recent holes drilled by the joint venture had an interval of 12 metres grading 3.4 grammes per tonne ("g/t") gold within an overall interval of 30 metres grading 1.6g/t gold. At the present time, two drill rigs are on site and drilling is now taking place on the fifth and sixth holes of the nine hole programme. The current drilling campaign has completed over one thousand metres of core drilling across the four completed holes and the two holes currently in progress. Core samples from the first two holes have been forwarded for assay and results are expected soon. In addition to the work at El Facho, following receipt of the necessary permits, the joint venture will also shortly commence drilling at the highly prospective Peralonso permit area in Salamanca Province where previous trenching returned some interesting results including an interval of 5 metres grading 5.4g/t gold. It is currently proposed that a three hole drill programme will commence at Peralonso once the drilling at El Facho is completed. Aurum is now progressing quickly towards spending €500,000 over the initial eighteen months of the joint venture to earn its majority interest in the permits that are the subject of the agreement with Ormonde. It is anticipated that Aurum's expenditure on the joint venture will be approximately €450,000 by the end of March 2012 and it is expected that Aurum will have earned its majority stake shortly thereafter.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201202140700273373X