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Marks & Spencer has been found guilty of failing to protect customers, staff and workers from the possibility of being exposed to asbestos during refurbishment works at two of its stores.The clothing and food chain was subject to a three-month trial at Winchester Crown Court on charges of failing to ensure all steps were taken to prevent the deadly fibres from being unleashed in the shops, the Independent reports.

Numis downgrades JD Weatherspoon from hold to reduce - target from 425p to 375p.

Panmure Gordon upgrades Lavendon Group from hold to buy, target price raised from 105p to 127p.

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107180700085281K

Reduced outgoings from the integration of the acquired Telephonetics business, in addition to various cost saving initiatives, have improved gross margins at Netcall (NET), offering the prospect of EBITDA exceeding expectations. Strong operational cash-flows from the software group also improved the company's cash position from 4.8 million pounds in December 2010 to 5.9 million at the end of June 2011, the company denoted in a trading update. Netcall expects to release preliminary results on 26th September 2011. The shares climbed 2.375p to 19.25p.

Northland Capital has initiated coverage of VPhase (VPHA) with a "buy" recommendation and a target price of 1.4p. The broker says that product sales have been disappointing until now, but believes the recent investment from General Electric and plans to fast-track the product, designed to lower household electricity costs, through retailer Best Buy could greatly improve sales for the second half of the year and into 2012. Northland expects the company to become profitable in 2013 with expected sales of 60,000 units. VPhase shares edged down 0.01p to 1.24p.

AstraZeneca (AZN) remains a "sell" for Evolution Securities, with a target price of 2,650p, as the company's experimental medicine Dapagliflozin continues to gain negative attention. The broker notes that the drug, designed to treat diabetes, could have drastic potential side effects, such as bladder or breast cancer, and the US Food and Drug Administration has determined that it was the probable cause of liver toxicity in a test patient. As a result, Evolution is uncertain that the drug will gain approval from the ruling board on the 20th July. The shares lost 61p to 3,017.5p.

Singer Capital reiterated its "buy" recommendation for Lavendon (LVD) with a target price of 157p, following continued revenue momentum. Specifically, the broker notes that growth in the groups two largest regions, UK and Germany, was up 10% on overall growth of 8%. Singer also says that if the powered aerial work platform provider maintains this momentum it should exceed expectations of 20 million pounds in pre-tax profits for the full year. Shares in Lavendon gained 4.9p to 108.4p.

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107180700085287K

Dialight (DIA) retained a "buy" rating from Canaccord Genuity, with a target price of 850p. The broker expects strong first half results in the cell tower strobes and industrial white lighting sectors which would indicate the LED lighting company could be on track to outperform full-year expectations. Canaccord notes that the business only entered the industrial lighting market in 2010 but believes that it could repeatedly double revenues over the next few years. The broker also notes that Dialight has begun to expand organically and via acquisition in Australia and Japan. The shares stayed flat at 757p

Investec upgrades Reckitt Benckiser from sell to hold, target price raised from 2800p to 3425p.

Whitbread’s chief executive Andy Harrison has taken a top-up in the Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owner’s shares, spending nearly £250,000. He took 16,095 shares at 1,543.6p a time and now has 177,768. Harrison’s purchase comes the week after Whitbread reported a 9% rise in sales for the first quarter. Strong sales growth at Costa coffee shops helped the company to offset subdued activity in its restaurant division, which included Beefeater Grill and Brewers Fayre, to grow total sales by 9.2% in first quarter.

"This acquisition represents a significant step forward in the growth of our domestic onshore business in a play that offers some of the highest returns in the United States today," said William L. Transier, chairman, chief executive officer and president. "The acreage is located on trend with several major industry developments and complements our existing acreage position in Cameron County immediately to the south. Our development model indicates recoverable natural gas potential from 1.0 to 1.3 trillion cubic feet with more than 300 identified drilling locations on our McKean and Cameron County leasehold. As operator of these assets, including the gathering infrastructure, we have the opportunity to accelerate our development plans in an effort to realize the value of our investment while expanding our position in this three county area."

Endeavour International Corporation (NYSE: END) (LSE: ENDV) announced today that it has entered into purchase and sale agreements with SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) and certain other minority owners to acquire the leasehold and producing interests held by SM Energy and its partners in the Marcellus shale in north central Pennsylvania, as well as a pipeline and related facilities for aggregate consideration of $110 million. The transaction provides Endeavour with significant production and reserve potential on acreage that is adjacent to the Company's existing Marcellus acreage and is readily available for development in one of the most economically attractive shale gas plays in the United States. The assets include the following: - Approximately 50,000 net acres of leasehold with 100 percent operated working interests in McKean and Potter counties; - Current production from three existing wells of approximately three to four million cubic feet of natural gas per day, including the Potato Creek #3H well that initially flowed 11 million cubic feet of gas per day and is expected to recover in excess of 4 billion cubic feet of gas; - 100 percent ownership of Potato Creek LLC, which owns a midstream gathering system and related facilities in southern McKean County, including a 10-mile 16" trunkline connected and flowing to Tennessee Gas Pipeline's 24" mainline; and - Proprietary and fully processed 3-D seismic survey covering the entire Potato Creek lease block. Following the completion of the transaction, Endeavour's leasehold interests in the Marcellus Shale will total approximately 93,000 gross (68,000 net) acres. A new 7-year lease will be issued at closing on the key 21,000 net acre Potato Creek block that requires only five wells to be drilled in the first three years. Minimal capital is required over the next three years to hold all acreage in McKean County, including the key Potato Creek leasehold. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days and is expected to be financed with proceeds from the issuance of convertible debt securities.

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20110718134000P9577

Jamie Buchan, Chief Executive of Southern Cross, said: "Today's announcement from NHP is very positive indeed and should be welcomed by staff, residents and relatives as being in the interests of preserving resident care. Together with my team, I look forward to working closely with NHP and Court Cavendish in order to ensure a professional and seamless handover of operations."

The details Restructuring Update Southern Cross welcomes the announcement issued today by NHP, its largest landlord with 249 homes. The announcement provides further positive clarification on the restructuring process and the Company is encouraged by NHP's continued commitment to the welfare and care of residents. In today's announcement, NHP has confirmed that at the end of the period of consensual restructuring, it plans to partner with Court Cavendish in the setting up of a new operating company for its homes. NHP has also said that it will continue to rely on the existing Southern Cross staff who manage its homes together with the back office services delivered by the Company's existing infrastructure in order to ensure continuity of both care and operations.

SThree offers special divi as profit surges Date: Monday 18 Jul 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Staffing business SThree reported a 52% surge in pre-tax profit for the six months ended 29 May 2011 and has offered a special dividend of 11p. The group reported a robust first half performance as its markets improved. Pre-tax profit rose to £11.2m during the six months from £7.3m the year before. Revenue rose to £254.9m from £221.7m previously. Like for like gross profit was up 23%.

Russell Clements, CEO, commented: "During the first half of the year the Group benefited from a continued improvement in market conditions across all of our territories. The result was a performance which positions the Group well for the remainder of the year. That said, given the strong seasonality of our business, we are targeting for the second half to be a very significant contributor to our results for 2011 as a whole, as has historically been the case. "We have continued to invest in the Group's future growth by scaling-up our capacity in established territories and markets, as well as opening new offices and addressing complementary specialist staffing segments. As a result the Group is more diversified and international than at any other time in its history, with almost two thirds of the business coming from outside of the UK. We expect our long established international office roll out programme to continue, with a number of further new offices scheduled to open during the second half of the year. "With recovery now evident across our markets, it is pleasing to be able to announce the intention to pay a special dividend in addition to our usual interim dividend. The strong cash generative nature of our business will, we believe, allow us to periodically review our capital requirements with a view to, where prudent, returning further value to our shareholders in this manner. We are confident that this can be achieved whilst continuing to invest appropriately to support the Group's ambitious global growth plans. "The Group has entered the second half in good shape, notwithstanding some evidence of a softening of UK demand in recent weeks, and our expectations for the full year remain unchanged."

Operational Highlights • Pleasing first half performance in a sequentially improving market. Gross Profit up 21% year on year to £90.0m (2010: £74.3m). Like for like ("LFL") Gross Profit up 23% • Permanent placements up by 21% to 3,450 (2010: 2,842) - average permanent placement fee up 8% LFL to a record £12,851 (2010: £11,861) • Number of active contractors at period end up by 11% year on year to 4,381 (2010: 3,952) - average gross profit per day rates increased by 6% LFL to a record £88.10 (2010: £83.24). Average contract margin achieved of 21.4% (2010: 21.4%) • Contract versus Permanent mix of Gross Profit now 50:50 (Full year 2010: 51:49 in favour of Contract) • Non-UK Gross Profit for the period represented 63% of the Group total (Full year 2010: 60%) • Rest of World (excluding UK and Europe) Gross Profit grew to 13% of mix (Full year 2010: 11%), up 43% LFL • Non-ICT business segments grew by 42% LFL, now representing 40% of total Gross Profit (Full year 2010: 38%) • Sales headcount up 14% year on year and 12% versus year end 2010 position, as the Group scales up its existing operations and opens into new sectors and geographies • New offices opened in Sao Paulo, Doha and Antwerp • Net cash position remains strong at £48.3m (2010: £31.6m) • Interim dividend increased by 17.5% to 4.7p (2010: 4.0p) • Special dividend of 11.0p per share payable on 2 December 2011, a cash outflow of circa £13.5m