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Seymour Pierce downgrades Blacks Leisure from hold to sell and target to 10p from 15p

Appointment of Julia Reynolds The Board is pleased to confirm that Julia Reynolds will formally take up her appointment as Chief Executive and as a Director of Blacks Leisure with effect from 1 August 2011. There are no additional details relating Ms Reynolds' appointment that are required to be disclosed pursuant to paragraph 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules.

Financing Since the year end the Group's indebtedness has increased significantly due to both normal seasonal factors and the challenging market conditions affecting the UK retail sector as a whole. Therefore, the Group has been working alongside its bankers, Bank of Scotland plc, to extend and increase its banking facilities. The Group has agreed, subject only to completing documentation, an extension to the availability of its existing seasonal peak facility together with an additional short term facility such that the Group will have total bank facilities of up to £40 million until 15 December 2011 at which point the facilities will revert to the previously agreed core facility of £35 million supplemented, during certain periods, by the seasonal peak facility of £3 million. The extension of banking facilities is accompanied by an amendment to the covenants which, from February 2012, will revert to those previously set. In view of the maturity of its existing facilities in November 2012, the Board will seek to refinance its existing banking facilities in such time to ensure that the Group has appropriate arrangements in place for its future requirements. The Board is also considering the Group's overall capital requirements with a view to strengthening its capital structure and providing a platform to support the Group's plans for development and growth.

Interim Management Statement Blacks Leisure, the UK's leading retailer of outdoor specialist clothing, footwear and equipment, today issues the following interim management statement for the 19 week period from the start of its financial year on 27 February 2011 to 9 July 2011. Trading Total Group sales were £54.6 million compared to £61.3 million for the same period last year. Like-for-like sales (net of VAT) for the period were 9.7% below last year. Although sales for the period were below our expectations, we have maintained gross margins and controlled overheads. Furthermore, the Group's performance has seen an improving trend as the financial year has progressed, and like-for-like sales for the six weeks since the end of May were 3.2% ahead of last year. As previously announced, we have begun to implement a plan to exit fully from the Boardwear market and focus on the core Outdoor market. Three Freespirit stores have been converted to the Blacks fascia and one store lease surrendered during the period under review; the remaining five stores are in the process of withdrawing from Boardwear and will then be rebranded to other Group fascias or the leases surrendered back to the landlords.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107150700074417K

Fourth-quarter figures from Ashmore Group are deceptive because, of the $15.5bn (£9.6bn) increase in funds under management, almost $10bn came from the June purchase of EMM, the emerging markets equities specialist. This was founded by Antoine van Agtmael, the man who coined the phrase “emerging markets”. Ashmore shares sell on about 12.6 times this year’s earnings, a premium to the sector but deserved, with emerging markets back in favour. A strong hold, says the Times.

Associated British Foods is one of those combinations you would never put together from scratch today. A third of the business is the startlingly cheap Primark fashion chain; another third comes from sugar. ABF shares have fallen by 8% since Christmas and, on about 13.5 times next year’s earnings, are reappearing on some analysts’ buy lists. Though they have advanced some way from their low point, they should be back on your lists, too, says the Times.

Centaur Media, which owns titles including Marketing Week, surprised analysts with news of a strong end to the year, saying profits would be at the top end of internal expectations. It boasts a valuation of around 11 times forward earnings for next year, according to Altium. That is hardly expensive. In fact, given the positive update, it looks downright cheap, says the Independent.

The rights issue from Pendragon, the UK's biggest car dealer, does the job of shoring-up the finances and putting the business in a better shape to go ahead. It is also enormous, nine new shares for eight and at 10p, is a 54% discount to the last closing share price. Nick Bubb at Arden Partners is looking for £33.5 million pre-tax profit this year. The rights issue solves a lot of problems and the new shares should be taken up, but further progress looks to be slow, says the Times.

Stagecoach Theatre Arts plc ("Stagecoach Theatre Arts" or "the Company") Trading update Stagecoach Theatre Arts (AIM: STA) announces a trading update for the year ended 31 May 2011 and also for the current financial year ending 31 May 2012. As indicated at the time of the Company's interim results, trading remained generally level during the year ended 31 May 2011 and the results for the full year ended 31 May 2011 are in line with market and the Company's expectations. However, the Company has felt the effects of the economic downturn on school and student numbers: average student numbers attending each school in the UK decreased by 2% to 40.7 students over the year and the number of Stagecoach Theatre Arts main schools for 6 to 18 year olds fell from 613 to 603 over the same period. Although it is too early to predict the outturn for the current financial year with any degree of certainty, the effect of the reduction in school and student numbers in the UK is expected to be reflected in the Company's trading results for this period notwithstanding increased Stagecoach Theatre Arts networks in North America and Germany. The Company continues to believe that worldwide school and student numbers will increase when the economic outlook improves. The Company expects to announce its annual results on Wednesday, 10 August 2011.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107150700074364K

BHP Billiton CEO, Marius Kloppers, said the acquisition was a natural fit with BHP Billiton's strategy. "The proposed acquisition of Petrohawk is consistent with our well defined, upstream, Tier 1 strategy and provides us with even greater exposure to the world's largest energy market, while also broadening our geographic and customer spread. Importantly, our offer and the associated substantial premium represent a unique opportunity for Petrohawk shareholders and recognise the growth opportunities embedded in its portfolio immediately." BHP Billiton Petroleum Chief Executive, J. Michael Yeager, said the Petrohawk acquisition would add high quality growth to the company. "Petrohawk has a focused portfolio of three world class onshore natural gas and liquids rich shale assets. With over a decade of significant investment and volume growth ahead, this transaction would build on our recent acquisition of the Fayetteville shale in Arkansas and provides the potential to more than double our existing resource base. Following completion of the Petrohawk transaction, BHP Billiton Petroleum will be on track to deliver a compound annual production growth rate of more than 10 per cent for the remainder of the decade as we accelerate our shale development program and leverage our strategic capability in the deep water. "Importantly, BHP Billiton would retain Petrohawk's sizeable U.S. based workforce, which has been at the forefront of the technological innovation that brought about the economic viability of U.S. shales. We look forward to extending our dedication to safeguarding the environment and the communities where we operate and continuing our commitment to safe and responsible operating practices across all of our shale gas plays, including the world-class assets that Petrohawk would bring to our portfolio." Petrohawk CEO, Floyd Wilson, stated: "We believe these premium oil and natural gas assets would benefit significantly by residing within a larger entity that can employ more capital intensity to accelerate their realised value. We are excited to see this transaction completed and to be part of the BHP Billiton organisation."

BHP BILLITON and Petrohawk Energy Corporation announce merger agreement BHP Billiton [ASX: BHP, NYSE: BHP, LSE: BLT, JSE: BIL] and Petrohawk Energy Corporation ("Petrohawk") [NYSE: HK] announced today that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement for BHP Billiton to acquire Petrohawk for US$38.75 per share by means of an all-cash tender offer for all of the issued and outstanding shares of Petrohawk, representing a total equity value of approximately US$12.1 billion and a total enterprise value of approximately US$15.1 billion, including the assumption of net debt. The Petrohawk board of directors has unanimously recommended to Petrohawk shareholders that they accept the offer. The transaction would provide BHP Billiton with operated positions in the three world class resource plays of the Eagle Ford and Haynesville shales, and the Permian Basin. Petrohawk's assets cover approximately 1,000,000 net acres in Texas and Louisiana, with estimated 2011 net production of approximately 950 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d), or 158 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (Mboe/d). At year-end 2010, Petrohawk reported proved reserves of 3.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent (Tcfe). The company has a current non-proved resources base of 32 Tcfe for a total risked resource base of 35 Tcfe. Petrohawk reported gross assets of US$8.2 billion as at 31 March 2011 and US$390 million of profit before tax for the year ended 31 December 2010.

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Interim Management Statement Alterian plc ("Alterian" or the "Company"), a leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, today publishes its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 April 2011 to the date of this announcement, as required by the Listing Authority disclosure rules. The Company's first quarter represents a relatively small proportion of full year revenue. The revenue in the quarter has been in line with management plans for revenue and costs as stated in the preliminary statement of results on 23 May 2011. Cost actions as set out in the preliminary statement have been implemented resulting in annual savings of approximately £6m compared to the year-end cost run rate at 31 March 2011. As previously announced, this will have a one off implementation cost of £1.2m. The appointment of Heath Davies as Chief Executive and Phil Cartmell as Chairman were announced on 13 July 2011. The development of the new Alterian Alchemy™ product has progressed well and the product is expected to be available to the market during the first half and will contribute strongly to the second half and future years' performance. Although the economic outlook remains challenging, the analytics technology supporting the campaign management and analytics products remains highly competitive particularly with the advent of the new Alterian Alchemy™ product and should provide the basis of good growth in the second half. With the new appointments to the Board announced this week, the Company looks forward to realising the value of the technology and products within Alterian.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107150700084490K

BHP Billiton has made another big bet on energy in the US, announcing an agreement to buy Petrohawk, an independent oil and gas company, for $12.1bn in cash. In its biggest acquisition to date, the Anglo-Australian mining group said on Thursday it had agreed to pay $38.75 a share for Petrohawk, which operates in three leading areas of shale gas and oil production in the US, the Financial Times reports.

Rupert and James Murdoch are to be sued personally for their handling of the phone-hacking debacle, it emerged on Thursday night as the family’s woes intensified on both sides of the Atlantic. They will have to answer claims personally that they neglected their “fiduciary duty”, rather than have News Corp defend the case as a corporate entity, the Telegraph reports. Pressure is growing on James Murdoch to step down as chairman of BSkyB as shareholders call for him to quit in the wake of the collapse of News Corporation's bid. The Co-operative Asset Management, which holds shares in Sky and News Corp, yesterday followed Pirc, the corporate governance adviser, in calling for the appointment of a chairman with no ties to the failed bidder, the Independent reports.

REO have nothing to add then since last update

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