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http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201110190936094449Q

SABMiller (SAB) has announced a strategic alliance with Turkish beverage company Anadolu Efes. In exchange for receiving a 24% equity stake in Anadolu the brewer will transfer its Russian and Ukrainian beer business to its new partner. The firms believe that this will establish them as the second largest player, in terms of value, in the Russian beer market. Separately, SAB reported 3% growth in larger volumes for the sixth months ended 30th September, with strong growth in Latin American and Africa, but weakness in North America and Europe. The shares inched up 9.5p to 2,270.5p.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201110190700174253Q

Paul Walsh, Chief Executive of Diageo commented: 'Diageo has delivered a good start to the new financial year. Net sales growth was marginally ahead of expectations and the quarter did benefit from some one-off factors which are not expected to reoccur in the second quarter. Consumer trends are broadly unchanged. We have delivered positive price/mix in North America, an improvement in net sales growth in Europe and we have driven strong growth in the developing markets with net sales up 20%. We continue to expect that net sales growth for the first half will improve on that delivered in fiscal 2011. 'We are alert to any impact which the fragile global economy may have on trading patterns as we continue to build our brands with consumers and enhance our relationships with customers. The sharpened focus we have brought to our investment in marketing, innovation and sales to build the strength of our brands and our routes to market underpins our confidence in the performance of the business.'

Booze bottler Diageo (DGE) achieved 9% organic sales growth in the quarter ended 30th September, with 30% growth in Latin America, and 14% in Asia Pacific. However, in North America, the alcoholic drink's company's sales growth was driven by price increases, while actual volumes fell 2%. The firm has increased net assets to 6.6 billion pounds, as at 30th September, up from 6.0 billion pounds on 30th June, while net borrowings have also increased, primarily due to the acquisition of Mey Icki for 1.3 billion pounds. The shares climbed 48.5p to 1,328.5p.

Brewin Dolphin maintained its "sell" recommendation for Mouchel (MCHL) with a price target of 15p. The broker calls the engineering consultancy's decision to sell its rail business for 3.4 million pounds in cash a step in the right direction. However, Brewin notes that the sum pales in comparison to the 87 million pounds net debt position the group reported in its final year trading update. The broker expects the firm to raise around 15 million pounds through the disposal of non-core businesses. Shares in Mouchel tumbled 0.5p to 14.75p.

Netplay TV (NPT) kept its "buy" rating from Daniel Stewart with a target price of 14p. Having completed its restructuring and putting greater emphasis on its SuperCasino brand, the broker feels the interactive television gaming company has created greater stability for future revenue streams. Additionally, Daniel Stewart approves of the firms new mobile based activities. Additionally, with new regulations coming into place, the broker feels Netplay has the opportunity to expand into foreign markets. The shares lost 0.25p to 9.375p

A little more re evolution target - BSkyB (BSY) retained its "buy" rating from Evolution Securities, with a target price of 750p. The broadcasting company beat the broker's forecasts, with revenues of 1.66 billion pounds and EBITDA of 381 million pounds in the three months to September, against an expected 1.63 billion pounds and 374 million pounds respectively. Evolution also notes that the group has made considerable saving through its broadband and HD programming investments. The shares jumped 34.5p to 710p.

Evolution Securities recommends buying shares of satellite TV, landline and broadband supplier British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), saying that its first quarter results “highlight the reason investors should own the stock”. “Reported key performance indicators were a fraction behind our forecasts (multiroom aside), but that is only because Sky has set the bar so high for itself,” said analyst Steve Malcolm.

GKN was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 at midday on Wednesday, despite Investec expecting the market to “take comfort” in the group’s latest ‘in line’ update. “GKN is a highly volatile stock that will continue to fluctuate with global autos and broader macro concerns. However, on this update it appears the shares are pricing in a high element of caution given the group's growth potential in a benign market scenario,” analyst Andrew Gollan said. Nevertheless, the broker labelled GKN’s third quarter trading as “robust”, and maintained its buy rating and 250p target price.

And the Independent has also covered UBM, like the Times giving it a hold recommendation. Because of the economic outlook we're still wary of upgrading to a buy, even if the valuation looks increasingly compelling. All the same, this is no time to exit, not least because of that yield, it says.

UBM was a pure media business, but the printed word is of decreasing importance, magazines comprising only 12% of revenues and not quite 4% of profits, and most remaining titles have some synergistic link to events. This means less reliance on fickle advertising and more on more robust earnings from events. The shares sell on less than nine times this year’s earnings and offer the support of a 5.5% dividend yield. A strong hold unless you take a very negative view of the global economy, says the Times.

The Independent also looks at Bellway – and recommends buying the shares. Bellway trades at an enormous discount to its net asset value per share, forecast by Panmure at 921p for 2012, although the forecast yield ( 2 per cent) is nothing to write home about. On the downside, Bellway has faced criticism over its executive remuneration policies. For us that is a black mark. But we think Bellway is looking cheap now and merits a buy (we held at 760p last March), the paper says.

In the year to the end of July, Bellway completed sales of 4,922 units; four years ago the figure was a record 7,638 units. Last year’s figure was itself an advance of only 7% over the previous year, a time heavily impacted by economic uncertainties around the election. Welcome to the new normal, then. Bellway, like other builders, has responded by concentrating on the South East, a market that has been helped by the weaker pound and an influx of buyers from outside the UK, and building more higher-margin family homes elsewhere and fewer pokey flats. But most of the North remains difficult, and the company has its roots in the North East. Bellway shares have outperformed this autumn as the market took the improved performance on board and are now 25% ahead of their low in late August. This puts them on an earnings multiple for this year of almost 13; there seems little reason to chase at this level, says the Times.

Onwards and upwards

Ronald Duncan, Chairman of @UK, commented: - "It is a privilege to be working with NHS SDU who are international leaders in understanding the supply chain carbon footprint, and we believe that our Artificial Intelligence technology will make a significant impact in the understanding of the NHS Expenditure Carbon Footprint. "This builds on our established relationship with NHS Shared Business Services, and helps NHS organisations to identify both savings and carbon reduction in a single set of analysis. "We hope to extend this solution out to the rest of public and private sector." Sonia Roschnik, Operations Director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit (NHS SDU), commented: - "The NHS SDU are pleased that NHS organisations are getting the opportunity to identify carbon hot spots in their procurement carbon footprint at no cost. The analysis could also provide greater transparency about which suppliers, products and types of organisation are the biggest contributors to the NHS England procurement carbon footprint "Achieving the targets set out in the Climate Change Act will only be possible with increased transparency about the carbon footprint of goods and services we buy." Peter Akid, Managing Director of NHS SBS Commercial Procurement Solutions, commented: - "NHS Shared Business Services and @UK have been working together for a number of years to support the NHS in understanding its spend activity. We are delighted to be able to utilise our spend analysis capability to put this data intelligence to further use, and are excited about working with the NHS SDU to heighten awareness of the NHS's carbon footprint. We are also very pleased to be part of a national programme that will be integral in helping reduce the carbon footprint across the NHS."

CONT In addition the spend analytics capability from NHS Shared Business Services already provides anonymised data intelligence for around £41bn of total NHS non pay spend. The resulting analysis will supplement the new NHS SDU report into the updated NHS Carbon Footprint due out early next year and will continue the NHS's lead as the first organisation to have an in depth understanding of its carbon footprint. All the NHS organisations participating in the project will receive a summary of the carbon footprint of their current procurement activity and will be offered the option to upgrade to either, or both, a chargeable Spend Analysis and Carbon Analysis service. The spend analysis capability from NHS Shared Business Services provides organisations with a detailed breakdown of potential cash savings and was used last year by the National Audit office for its report identifying £500 million in savings in NHS consumables. The carbon analysis provides a detailed breakdown of the organisations' carbon footprint to further inform their carbon reduction plans and actions.

Launch of Innovative NHS Expenditure Carbon Footprint Project @UK PLC (AIM:ATUK.L), the cloud ecommerce marketplace, is delighted to announce the launch of the new NHS Expenditure Carbon Footprint Project. The project is being run by NHS Sustainable Development Unit (NHS SDU), with NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) assisting with data collection and @UK PLC providing analysis services. In 2008 the NHS SDU calculated the carbon footprint of NHS expenditure at a national level, which at that stage was the largest scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon footprint project of any organisation in the world. The new NHS Expenditure Carbon Footprint Project aims to build on this initial project, extending the collection of expenditure data from the national level to all NHS organisations, such as suppliers, GPs, dentists and pharmacists. The aim is to help inform decision making, revealing where carbon hot spots are and which suppliers and types of goods and services purchased contribute most to the carbon footprint. NHS Shared Business Services and @UK PLC will be collecting and analysing the data on behalf of the NHS SDU. The increased scope of the project has been made possible through the technical breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence by @UK PLC supported by the University of Reading and Goldsmiths College London. The technology allows for the automated analysis of finance system data to identify and categorise the individual items being purchased for the first time.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201109190700174396O

Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, commented: "We continue to deliver strong financial results and good growth in customers and products. In tough market conditions, our move to more broadly based growth and multiple products is serving us well. New customers are choosing Sky over other providers, existing customers are taking more from us and our financial performance is accelerating, with another quarter of double-digit growth in operating profit, EPS and free cash flow. "Looking ahead, the environment is likely to remain challenging as a result of the pressures facing consumers in the UK and Ireland. Our job is to give customers the quality and value they're looking for, with a better choice of programmes, more innovation and peace of mind with a price freeze for 12 months. In particular, customers can look forward to more outstanding TV as we step change our investment in new British comedy and drama, begin coverage of Formula 1 and continue to offer the best US shows like Glee, Terra Nova and Boardwalk Empire."