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Societe Generale downgrades Intertek from buy to hold, target price reduced from 2240p to 2100p.

UBS reiterates buy Weir Group, target price raised from 2200p to 2420p.

BarCap initiates overweight on Amlin, target price 513p.

Michael Queen, 3i's Chief Executive, said: "We have made a good start to the year with a significant increase in the level of investment during the period. These new investments and a strong pipeline combined with our confidence in the portfolio, provide a positive outlook for the business."

The Group had cash, cash deposits and undrawn committed facilities of £1,910 million at 30 June 2011 (31 March 2011: £1,846 million). Net debt decreased from its year end level of £522 million to £471 million, recognising the net inflows from investments and realisations, together with other operating expenses. On 30 June, 3i successfully replaced its current £300 million October 2012 facility with a new £450 million multi currency revolving credit facility. The banking group has been extended and the facility will mature in June 2016.

Investment and Realisations Investment in the three month period was £233 million (2010: £105 million). This included £158 million of new investments, £36 million of further investment with the balance being capitalised interest. New investments included £112 million in Hilite, £17 million into GO Outdoors and £13 million into World Freight Company International. Infrastructure investment of £33 million relates to the conversion of 3i Infrastructure plc warrants, awarded at the company's Initial Public Offering in 2007.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107060700068299J

Shares had been in demand - positive news

Result of Open Offer On 20 June 2011, the Company announced details of a proposed share issue to raise gross proceeds of up to approximately £3.8 million through a Placing and Open Offer of up to 38,389,485 New Ordinary Shares at a price of 10 pence per New Ordinary Share. The Open Offer closed for acceptances at 11.00 a.m. on 5 July 2011. The Company is pleased to announce that valid acceptances have been received for 13,169,917 New Ordinary Shares from Qualifying Shareholders and accordingly the Open Offer was oversubscribed by approximately 73% per cent. All entitlements will be met and excess applications will be scaled back pro rata with 7,622,635 Open Offer Shares being issued pursuant to the Open Offer. Consequently, the Company has conditionally raised a total of approximately £3.8 million before expenses through the Placing and Open Offer. The Placing and the Open Offer remain conditional upon, amongst other things, the approval of Shareholders at the General Meeting, to be held at 12.00 p.m. today at Westmarch House, 42 Eaton Avenue, Buckshaw Village, Chorley, PR7 7NA and upon Admission occurring by 8.00 a.m. on 8 July 2011 (or such later time or date as the Company may determine). Application has been made to AIM for the admission of the 38,389,485 New Ordinary Shares. It is expected that Admission will become effective on 8 July 2011 and that dealings in the New Ordinary Shares will commence at 8.00 a.m. on 8 July 2011. Following Admission, the Company will have 114,615,830 Ordinary Shares in issue.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107060700078386J

Acoje Bankable Feasibility Study China Tianchen Engineering Corporation (TCC) has been appointed as the engineering consultant responsible for the implementation of the BFS on its Acoje nickel laterite project. TCC has considerable experience with nickel projects in Asia, and will work in conjunction with other specialist consultants and ENK's owners' team to compile the BFS. The study is on track for completion in the first half of 2012, as scheduled. The Company has had a long association with TCC as they were the EPC contractors for the design and build of the Caldag Acid Plant in Turkey. Increasing TCC's scope for the Acoje Project was a natural progression for the Company. The exploration drilling program designed to provide in-fill data at Acoje and to test the saprolite horizon at the Company's nearby Zambales Chromite tenement has now commenced and will continue throughout the remainder of 2011.

Acoje Heap Leach Trial The Acoje heap leach trial has now been under irrigation for 80 days. Nickel extraction is running to schedule with extraction of 21% after 70 days. Acid consumption, one of the most important parameters in the HL process is as predicted, while cobalt recoveries and iron retardation is also running in accordance with expectations. Over the past 2 months the Acoje site has received 2187mm of rain compared to the annual Acoje average of 3200mm. The performance of the pad and the rain mitigating strategies have been exceptional with no degradation of the heap observed. Ore for Heap 2 has been mined and is at the trial site awaiting crushing, blending, agglomeration and stacking. This process has been delayed due to the wet weather however the crushing is set to commence as soon as the ore has been dried to a moisture content that will allow agglomeration to occur. Once Heap 2 has been stacked adjacent to Heap 1 and irrigation has commenced it is planned to operate both heaps in closed circuit mode in order to increase metal concentrations. By late August/ early September 2011 the high concentration PLS will be fed to the hydrometallurgical recovery plant, which is going through the final phase of being configured on site. This plant will test ENK's enhanced metals recovery process flow-sheet and will produce separate nickel hydroxide and cobalt hydroxide products. The results of the trials at the heap leach trial site will be used in the Bankable Feasibility Study ("BFS") which is underway at Acoje.

Hunter Dickinson Constantia Resources Ltd have advised the Company that they are terminating the Letter Agreement, effective 5 July 2011, under which Constantia was to subscribe to US$55 million of shares at a price of 44 pence to fund the equity portion of the Caldag project financing in Turkey. The conditions precedent of finance and shareholder approval cannot be met by 31 August 2011, the expiry date of the Letter Agreement. The Company has previously advised shareholders that it believes greater Turkish participation is key to obtaining value from the Caldag project and the Company has entered into discussions with Turkish entities regarding the sale of an interest in the Caldag project. In addition the Company has commenced a project review which will include looking at various alternate processing routes such as those being trialled at its Acoje project in the Philippines. Constantia remains a shareholder of ENK owning a 7.44% of the Company's issued share capital.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107060700078513J

Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala, Ark's Consultant Director of Molecular Medicine and the current President of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, commented: "The TEKES and ELY-centre grants and the Baculo-lentiviral publication further demonstrate Ark's international reputation as a world-leader in gene-based medicines and its pre-eminence in biotherapeutic and viral based manufacturing founded on Ark's unrivalled viral manufacturing expertise. We look forward to announcing further progress in this area in due course."

Publication of article on advances in Baculo-Lentiviral production technology London, UK, 6 July 2011 - Ark Therapeutics Group plc (AKT:LSE) ("Ark" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a grant of up to €0.4 million from Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES) to support the further development of Ark's proprietary lentiviral vector production technology using baculoviruses ("Baculo-lentiviral") to achieve the scale and GMP quality required for clinical use. Ark has also been awarded a €0.2 million grant from Finnish governmental organization Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY-centre) to progress validation work in its GMP3 manufacturing facility in Kuopio. Ark is also pleased to announce that Nature's Gene Therapy journal has published in its June issue1 a paper describing Ark's latest advances in world leading Baculo-lentiviral vector production technology. This work was conducted by Ark scientists in Kuopio, Finland in collaboration with researchers from the University of Eastern Finland and the IBET institute in Portugal. Lentivirus can be a highly effective vector for gene therapy applications by virtue of its efficient transduction of both dividing and non-dividing cells, long-term stable transgene expression and low immunogenicity. However, difficulties in plasmid-based production methods have limited its clinical applications. Ark scientists have previously described2 Ark's Baculo-lentiviral production system for lentiviral vector production using adherent cells. The latest improvements described in the June paper are the adaption of the production of lentiviral vectors to a suspension cell culture system using recombinant baculoviruses delivering all elements required for the latest generation of safe, high titer stocks of non-replicating lentiviral vectors. Effective purification by rapid scaleable ion-exchange chromatography was also demonstrated and produced viruses that were shown to mediate effective transduction in vivo. Ark's Baculo-lentiviral system makes large scale lentivirus production much more efficient and cost-effective. The support from TEKES and ELY-centre will enable this technology to be established as a production platform within Ark's GMP manufacturing facility.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107060700078381J

Life is not easy for the brokers who make their living looking after the smaller and medium-sized companies that bulge bracket investment banks largely turn their noses up at. The market for flotations and M&A work has certainly improved from the dark days of the credit crunch, but the good times are a long way from being back. That is reflected in the way shares in Cenkos Securities have performed. These shares are starting to look cheap at about eight times forecast full-year earnings. The dividend was cut last year, but should be raised if earnings improve, although yield is not something to count on. There is a buying opportunity here for those willing to roll the dice, says the Independent.

Detroit has emerged as a new base for growth for the IT services company Datatec, which has bought out its Michigan-based rival Netarx. The stock has hit an all-time high of 350p in recent weeks and trades on the relatively cheap rating of 12.3 times consensus earnings. Enthusiasm is curtailed by its illiquidity on UK markets, but a Computacenter trading statement next week could reignite interest in the IT sector, says the Times.

When it updated the market back in May, Genus, the Basingstoke-based group – which supplies both breeding pigs and high-quality bull semen to farmers – said it was on track to beat the previous 12 months, and yesterday’s brief pre-close trading statement ahead of September’s full-year results confirmed that view. Yesterday, the shares dipped 8p to 1,032p, but after gains of 20 per cent in 2011 – and more than 100 per cent over the last two years – we suspect some profit taking. The support behind the stock remains. Buy, says the Independent.