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http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201201250700131183W

Paul Lever, Non-executive Chairman of DATONG commented: "We are delighted with the outcome of the judgment of the Court of Appeal today. There are no restrictions on DATONG's ability to sell any of these Third Party products into our chosen markets and the judgment removes any lingering doubt that may have existed. The Company looks forward to continued success from this area of the business."

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Commenting on today's announcement, Kate Swann, Group Chief Executive said: "During the period we saw a resilient performance in challenging trading conditions. Gross margin was in line with plan and costs were tightly controlled. "Over the past six years both businesses have consistently increased profits and the Group is now well balanced between Travel and High Street. As a result of this, the months of November and December now represent less than half of annual Group profit compared to over 90% of Group profit six years ago. "Looking ahead, we expect the trading environment to be challenging however we have planned accordingly and continue to be confident in making further progress in the year."

TRADING STATEMENT Resilient performance across the Group with profit growth in line with expectations WH Smith PLC is today providing an update on its trading performance for the 21 weeks to 21 January 2012. The Group delivered a resilient performance with profit in line with expectations. Group total sales were down 3% with like-for-like (LFL) sales down 5% for the 21 weeks. In Travel, total sales were up 2% with LFL sales down 3% for the 21 weeks and we saw further improvement in gross margin, in line with plan. Our new store opening programme remains on track and we continue to identify further opportunities for growth both in the UK and internationally. In High Street, total sales were down 5% with LFL sales down 6% for the 21 weeks. Excluding Entertainment, LFL sales were down 4%. Gross margin improved in the period in line with plan and costs were tightly managed, reflecting the trading conditions. The Group continues to be highly cash generative with a strong balance sheet. Further to our announcement on 31 August 2011 of our intention to return up to £50m of cash to shareholders via an on market rolling share buyback programme, as of 24 January 2012, we have purchased 2.7 million shares to date at an average price of £5.15.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201201250700080977W

nr - yes good results and news mean nowt just now - rumour only moves SPs -I feel its hardly worthwhile researching anything just now !-

The Times’s Tempus column goes to war for the defence equipment manufacturer Chemring. It was battered yesterday, falling 12.6% after suggesting the coming year could be quite tough. Tempus argues the market may have overreacted as Chemring is looking outside NATO for customers. The firm is also boosting dividend, with a forward yield at around 4.6%, and trades at just seven times earnings. With a takeover not impossible Tempus says Chemring is a speculative buy.

CONT Recent new business wins have particularly come from companies operating in the catalogue and online sales, ecommerce and wholesale distribution areas - and Sanderson is to now place special emphasis on the further enhancement of its online sales and ecommerce solutions. As such, and with order intake in the (remaining) manufacturing and multi-channel businesses at the end of the company’s first quarter (to 31st December 2011) almost 10% ahead of the comparative period of the previous financial year, the strategy is to now “enhance the group's presence in its core markets of multi-channel retail and manufacturing”. In terms of valuation implications, we lower our current year revenue forecast from a previous £27 million to £15.25 million and earnings per share by a slightly lower percentage, from 6.7p to 4.0p. We then see earnings per share rising to 4.5p next year as the company benefits from its streamlined focus on the higher growth areas of its business. At 30th September 2011 Sanderson had net debt of £6.72 million and thus, at the current 33p share price, the Enterprise Value would have been £21.1 million. The company has now sold off 40% of its current year anticipated earnings and less than 20% of its 30th September 2011 stated net assets for more than £11.5 million - with that sold off the part of the business which looked to have the least attractive growth profile and returning the company to a net cash position, which is seen as a significant positive in current markets. As such, the prospective earnings multiples of 8.3 this year, falling to 7.3 next (6, falling to 5.3 on an ex-cash basis) look much too low. Given the company’s growth prospects and demonstrable cash generation, we consider a rating of 10x forward earnings + net cash comfortably justifiable. This suggests a target price of 55p and, given the disparity between this and the current share price, we reiterate our stance of buy.

Sanderson Group has sold its business specialising in electronic point of sale solutions to major high street retailers (Sanderson RBS Ltd) for £11.5 million in cash, with a further £0.15 million payable unconditionally on 6th April and a further £0.1 million payable dependent upon receipt of specific customer payments. The move transforms the company’s balance sheet - leaving a positive net cash balance of approximately £4 million - and positions the company strongly to growth both organically, through investment in new products and services, and acquisitively as opportunities arise in the current challenging economic environment. Despite this environment, Sanderson maintains positive trading momentum - which now looks even more unreflected in the share price. We reiterate a stance of buy. The RBS business generated an operating profit of £1.41 million in the year ending 30th September 2011, with net assets at that period end of £3.56 million. Considering the clear headwinds facing high street retailers and that Sanderson noted in its November results announcement that it was seeing “more challenging trading conditions on the high street”, the price looks a decent one - particularly with the deal providing the balance sheet ammunition for the company to invest in higher growth areas and the valuation implications it has for the continuing operations.

23rd January 2012 Analyst: Steven Moore Email:steven.moore@gecr.co.uk Tel: 0207 562 3370 Sanderson Group - Disposal & Trading Update. Reiterate ‘Buy’ at 33p. Target Price 55p.

Figures heading in the right direction

rading Update Sigma, the property and specialist asset management group, is pleased to provide the following update on trading for the 12 months to 31 December 2011, in advance of publishing its preliminary results in April 2012. The year has been one of transition in which the Group has been substantially reshaped and revitalised. The main focus of Sigma's activities is now on its new property- related operations, with the acquisition of Inpartnership Ltd (since renamed Sigma Inpartnership Ltd) in August 2011 a key step in opening up further significant new opportunities. In reshaping the Group's activities, as previously reported, Sigma now has only one management contract remaining from its historic property management activities. Additionally, of its venture capital fund management activities, four of its six venture funds are in realisation phase and set to generate strong cash flows. Sigma Inpartnership Ltd, which has unique long term contracted relationships with three major UK councils, made good progress in the second half of the year and we have invested further in resource here and more widely across the Property Division. Currently work in progress is at an unprecedented level. Results for the full year are in line with management expectations, with revenue from services expected to be at least £2.4m (2010: £1.8m) and the trading profit anticipated to be better than break even for the year (2010: loss of £0.6m). Post other operating income, interest and results of associate, the loss before exceptional items and tax is expected to be less than half 2010's loss of £1m. Exceptional items are expected to comprise a provision of approximately £1m against the carrying value of Sigma's holding in Frontier IP Group Plc ("Frontier"), an associate company, in the light of the reduction in Frontier's share price. Net assets per share attributable to equity shareholders at 31 December 2011 are expected to be approximately 8.2p per share (31 December 2010: 11.1p). Net cash at 31 December 2011 stood at £1.2m (31 December 2010: £1.8m). Full year results will be announced towards the end of April when the Board looks forward to providing a further update on trading.

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JWT acquires majority stake in Jordanian marketing communications company WPP announces that JWT, its wholly-owned global advertising and communications company, has acquired 51% of the shares in the capital of a newly incorporated Jordanian company which will acquire the assets of IDEA, a full service marketing communications company in Amman, Jordan, which has been JWT's affiliate for the past 7 years. The new company will trade under the name JWT Jordan. Based in Amman, Jordan, JWT Jordan is a full service marketing communications company with capabilities including strategic planning, advertising, digital marketing, activation and advocacy communications. The agency employs 27 people and major clients include HSBC, Zain Telecom and Nokia. JWT Jordan's unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were US$1.35 million. This investment continues WPP's strategy of developing its services in fast-growing markets and sectors. WPP companies (including associates) employ 3,500 people in the Middle East generating revenues of nearly US$400 million.

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Continued investment for long-term growth We continue to grow and expand our global marketing and distribution activities with additional staff recruited to support the new products introduced. Also, we maintain our focus on our research and development programmes and capabilities to support the Group's strategic targets for growth. Headcount at the end of December 2011 was 2,701, an increase of 26 since the start of the financial year and 421 more than the 2,280 at 31st December 2010. As stated in the Group's Interim management statement in October, due to current uncertainties surrounding the global economy, the Board continues to closely monitor the Group's costs and future recruitment strategy in order to improve our profit margins. The Group has established a new subsidiary company in Mexico to market and support the Group's products in that country and other central American countries. Additionally, we have acquired premises for the Group's Canadian and Italian subsidiaries. We have expanded our working premises in Germany, Brazil and China, and have refurbished and re-occupied a 16,000 square feet building in Schaumburg, USA. Capital expenditure on property, plant and equipment for the six months was £17.8m, of which £10.6m was spent on property and £7.2m on plant, equipment and vehicles. We completed the purchase of the Miskin premises in South Wales on 30th September and have subsequently commenced refurbishment of 62,500 square feet at this facility for the provision of additional manufacturing space to accommodate growth of our metrology range of products. Outlook The outlook for continuing global investment for production systems in automotive, civil aviation, agriculture and energy (including oil, gas and renewables) looks increasingly favourable. Furthermore, we anticipate a recovery in the important electronics sector. The Group is well-positioned to benefit from these structural growth trends as they should result in increasing demand for Renishaw's systems and products. Following restructuring within the healthcare business, we anticipate an improved performance going forward. We therefore remain focused on positioning the Group for further growth and view the future with great confidence. Dividends An interim dividend of 10.3 pence per share will be paid on 10th April 2012, to shareholders on the register on 9th March 2012.

Chairman's statement Revenue for the six months ended 31st December 2011 was a record £147.1m, up 11% on the £132.2m for the corresponding period last year. Geographically, revenue in Europe increased strongly by 25% over the comparable period and the Americas also showed strong growth of 23%. In the Far East we saw 12% growth in Japan, but a fall of 17% in the rest of the Far East which includes China; this was principally due to an industry and world-wide slowdown in the micro-electronics and opto-electronics markets. The Group's profit before tax was £31.2m, 11% below the £35.2m reported last year reflecting the impact of continued investment in staff and infrastructure to support growth. Earnings per share were 34.7p, compared with 39.0p last year.

25th January 2012 Interim report 2012 Highlights • Record first half year revenue of £147.1m, up 11% from £132.2m last year, which was also a record • Increased investment in research and development to support growth • Growth in marketing and distribution infrastructure • Further investment in manufacturing capacity • Continuing strong balance sheet with net cash balances of £26.6m (including pension fund escrow account of £11.1m)

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