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Shore Capital downgrades Matchtech Group from buy to sell

CONT Business progress Amiad maintained strong momentum in the second half of 2011, building on the successes achieved in the first six months of the year. The Company performed well in all markets, with sales in the irrigation segment increasing globally, especially in the United States. In the industrial and municipal segments, sales were especially strong in China, East Europe, Australia, South East Asia and Turkey. This includes a $2.85m agreement, announced on 19 December 2011, for the provision of the next stage of a water filtration project with one of South Korea's largest steel factories, which is to be delivered in 2012. In addition, Amiad made progress in the ballast water market in the United States. In India, production continued to increase at Amiad's subsidiary following the completion of the product assembly line in late 2010. This reflects Amiad's strategy to, where possible, transfer production to local sites to improve efficiency, reduce time-to-market and save costs. Similarly, Amiad established Amiad Sistemas de Agua LTDA, in September 2011, as a wholly-owned subsidiary to enhance the sale and marketing of the Company's products and solutions in Brazil, where there is increasing interest and investment in water infrastructure projects. Amiad has already begun to benefit from this, with good progress expected to be made in 2012.

Trading Update Amiad, a leading global producer of water treatment and filtration solutions, provides the following trading update for the year ended 31 December 2011 ahead of the Company's full year results, which will be announced in April 2012. The Company continued to make significant progress in all segments throughout the year as the integration of Arkal Filtration Systems' ("Arkal") business with Amiad was completed. As a result, Amiad expects to report approximately 30% growth in annual revenue to $116m (2010: $89.4m) in line with market expectations, with gross margins remaining consistent with the first half of 2011. Looking ahead, the Company entered 2012 with a substantially higher backlog than at the corresponding period in 2011 and expects to deliver further growth in the business. Rebranding the Company and expanded product offering Amiad adopted Amiad Water Systems Ltd as its new company name to reflect the development and expansion of its product offering following the acquisition of Arkal in 2010. Based on distinct, but synergistic and complementary technologies, Amiad now operates under three brands - 'Amiad', 'Arkal (by Amiad)' and 'Filtomat (by Amiad)' - providing a wider range of products based on innovative solutions that can form the core of any water filtration or treatment system worldwide. In November 2011, Amiad launched eight new products under its three brands. The new products, which represent a major expansion of Amiad's offering, have applications across the Company's range of sectors, and include two that are designed specifically for its new target segments of oil & gas and ballast water. The new products will start to be delivered in 2012 and are already receiving significant interest.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201201230701489700V

UBS upgrades Renishaw from neutral to buy, target price raised from 900p to 1400p.

AGM STATEMENT At today's Annual General Meeting (AGM) the Chairman, Malcolm Hepworth will make the following statement: "As envisaged in my statement accompanying our recent financial results we continued to experience challenging trading conditions over the Christmas period with a significant reduction in like-for-like sales. There are signs within our forward order book that this may be beginning to improve but nevertheless we expect to be operating in a difficult trading environment for the foreseeable future and we have therefore taken steps to realign our cost base. The Board is confident that the strategy it has adopted in recent years means the business is well positioned to capitalise when consumer confidence does return."

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201201231500040194W

Numis upgrades Daily Mail and General Trust from add to buy, target price unchanged at 526p

Deutsche Bank initiates hold Aggreko, target price 1915p

Deutsche Bank downgrades Kesa Electricals from hold to sell, target price cut from 80p to 62p.

SP is well hammered here - surely the figures dont warrant the drop what with the relatively positive outlook statement

Outlook The Board expects overall revenues to show similar year on year growth in the new financial year with the decline in manual test sales being offset by increased IDS-iSYS revenues arising from new placements and additional products becoming available on the IDS-iSYS system. As a result of the combined impact of the factors and actions outlined above, the Board expects profit growth to resume in the new financial year. In keeping with past practice the Company will provide a pre-close trading update shortly after its March year end.

Trading Update Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings plc (AIM: IDH), a leading producer of specialist diagnostic testing kits and automated systems for the clinical and research markets, provides a trading update following the conclusion of its third quarter trading period. Financial update Revenues for the nine months to December 2011 were £39.6 million, compared to £35.4 million for the comparable period in 2010. As a consequence of the trading pattern now being experienced the Company expects revenue for the full year to March 2012 to be between £52 and £53 million, lower than current market expectations. Operating costs for the year are expected to be in line with previous estimates but given the reduced revenue expectations pre-tax profit on a pre-exceptional basis is now forecasted to be between £14.5 and £15.3 million. The Company's operations remain highly cash generative with net cash of £3.6 million at the end of December 2011 compared to net debt of £2.3 million at December 2010.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201201230701449671V

Peel Hunt downgrades Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings from buy to hold, target price cut from 1064p to 500p

Peel Hunt initiates buy Impax Asset Management, target price 60p.

CONT Our Insurance Support Services business provides support services to clients in the London and international insurance markets, as well as providing third-party administration services to insurance companies in run-off. The business has performed in line with expectations. As previously indicated, the business has borne its full allocation of head office costs in 2011, leading to a broadly similar result to 2010. The Insurance Companies Run-off business owns insurance companies which are closed to new business and runs off their liabilities in an orderly manner. The fourth quarter results of the insurance companies in run-off which the Company owns are not yet finalised, but their results are not expected to be material to attributable earnings. Net Debt: Net debt at 31 December 2011 was £34.2m, compared to £38.6m at 30 June 2011 and £36.3m at 31 December 2010. As previously announced, we have focused on improved invoicing and cash collections by our Adjusting Services business which has started to have a positive impact on debt. In addition, the consideration paid for Alico Isle of Man Limited in November 2011 was financed by debt. Net debt is expected to improve materially once the Alico business is transferred to the Company's Isle of Man life run-off business in H1 2012, which is expected to generate significant cash releases. The Company's final results for 2011 will be announced on 23 March 2012. Corporate broker: The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Peel Hunt LLP as financial adviser and sole corporate broker with immediate effect.

Trading Update Charles Taylor Consulting plc, the international provider of insurance services, announces the following trading update prior to entering the close period for its results for the year to 31 December 2011. Trading performance was towards the lower end of management's expectations, principally as a result of slightly higher fourth quarter costs in the Management Services business and a quieter end to the year in Adjusting Services. The concentration on cash collections in our Adjusting Services business is having a positive impact on debt. Our focus is on delivering insurance services globally through three professional services businesses - Management, Adjusting, and Insurance Support Services - and on the ownership and run-off of insurance companies which are closed to new business. The Management Services business provides mutual and captive insurance company management, investment management, underwriting, cover holder and risk consulting services. The performance of the mutual management businesses which make up the bulk of revenues is slightly below expectations, principally as a result of higher costs in our shipping mutual business. The captive management, risk management and underwriting services businesses continued to find trading conditions challenging. Our Adjusting Services business provides loss assessments and claims-related advice to insurers and insureds across the energy, marine, aviation and non marine sectors, focusing on large and complex insurance losses. In the fourth quarter, trading was marginally below expectations, although the business is significantly ahead of the previous full year's performance following a particularly strong contribution from energy adjusting.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20120123070000PAD05

Peel Hunt initiates buy Charles Taylor Consulting, target price 170p