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First half results at Nationwide Accident Repair Services (NARS) are expected to show an improvement on the same period in 2010, it was revealed at its annual general meeting after the group got off to a good start to the year. The largest dedicated provider of automotive crash repair services in the UK added that it remains well-positioned to deliver increased sales and profitability. Shares in Nationwide Accident Repair Services, which operates from a network of repair centres across England, Scotland and Wales, rose 3p to 94p

There must be some negative news out there somewhere - a little look tomorrow think

Shares in RedHot Media International (RHM) plunged by 37.6% to 39p despite only 8,814 shares being traded. Yesterday the Malaysia based media broker reported that pre-tax profits rose by 95% to 9.2 million Malaysian ringgit (1.85 million pounds) in the year to 31st December 2010 as demand for its services boomed in the key markets of Malaysia and China. Broker Daniel Stewart has a 103p target price for the shares, which implies 164% upside from here. UK-Analyst believes that this is an excellent buying opportunity.

Jeezo - what a kerfuffle!

Shares in Avis Europe (AVE) soared by 114.1p to 310.7p after the vehicle rental services company reached agreement to a 636 million pounds takeover by its US counterpart Avis Budget, re-uniting the two parts of the Avis business after 25 years. The deal, which is expected to be completed by October, values Avis Europe at 315p a share, a 60% premium to its Monday's closing price. Commenting on this, Pascal Bazin, chief executive of Avis Europe, said: The recommended acquisition...enables us to provide both a compelling substantial immediate cash return to shareholders and an exciting opportunity for Avis Europe's customers, employees, partners and licensees."

Cenkos Securities issued a "buy" recommendation for CML Microsystems (CML) with a 300p target price. Commenting on full-year results, the broker said they are an impressive vindication of management's strategy and operational execution. Looking ahead, Cenkos added that the semiconductor's prospects in flash memory storage markets look particularly bright as design win momentum continues in embedded computing, networking and telecoms markets. CML shares added 23p to 235p.

Arbuthnot issued a "strong buy" rating for Manroy (MAN), the machine gun maker, with an increased target price of 141p, up from 126p. The broker said that while the interim results to March 2011 are obscured by accounting requirements, additional detail provided in the announcement indicates that underlying revenues and profits were broadly in line with expectations. That said, with a number of contract opportunities in the pipeline, Arbuthnot added that management expects the full-year outcome to be broadly in line with expectations. Manroy shares slipped 1.5p to 109.5p

Charles Stanley issued an "add" recommendation and 533p target price for Air Partner (AIP). Following the company's third-quarter interim management statement, the broker said that full-year expectations are on track and subsequently forecasts a pre-tax profit of 5 million pounds and earnings per share of 36.6p. The aircraft charter broker's strategy of further expansion, recruitment of new staff and development of overseas offices is under way, Charles Stanley added, which should result in earnings recovery going forward. The shares gained 22.5p to 470p

Fund manager City of London Investment said funds under management had risen nearly 18% to GBP3.54bn over the past 12 months, and predicted its full-year pre-tax profit would end up increasing by more than a quarter. The fund manager also gave the latest on attempts to diversify into natural resources and developed market closed-end funds, reporting “significant progress”, which looks promising. With the update giving little cause for worry, we would add to our holding, says the Independent.

Advanced Computer Software provides software and IT services, specialising in the healthcare and business sectors. Singer has the stock on 8.3 times on the estimates for 2012, a substantial discount to its rivals. What with the strength of yesterday’s results and the management’s bullish outlook, the stock should provide upside gains, according to the Independent.

Outsourcer Xchanging in 2008 bought 76% of Cambridge Solutions, a quoted Indian business. The purchase was a disaster. Several weeks ago Cambridge sold its loss-making American business. Now Xchanging has moved to buy outright the bits of Cambridge it wants, an Australian workers’ compensation business and an Indian business outsourcer. The discovery of the problems in India prompted the shares to collapse from well above GBP2 to a low of 52¾p in February. Some analysts believe this tidying up could make the company more attractive to a larger rival. Highly speculative, but interesting, says the Times.

Homeserve sells insurance for home emergency repairs, with its network of tradesmen able to sort problems ranging from burst pipes and broken boilers, to broken electrical appliances and getting your locks changed. Whilst the shares look a little expensive, trading at 19 times earnings, the company will hope that continued expansion overseas leads to a substantial increase in the number of policy holders and helps to drive growth. The Scotsman says buy.

At 9.5 times forecast full-year earnings for 2011, bookmaker William Hill’s stock is cheaper than rival Ladbrokes at 10.3 times but yields less at 4.2% against 5.3% for Ladbrokes. Still, more than 4% is well worth having. Of course, Mr Topping needs to deliver to justify the package he has been handed. Shareholders should therefore put him under the whip. The Independent says buy.

It is not always appreciated that B&Q owner Kingfisher, which also has operations in Turkey, Russia, Spain and China, achieves 60% of its sales and profits outside the UK. This gives it a significant counterpoint to the woes of the high street here. The shares sell on less than 12 times this year’s earnings, which makes them one of the few appealing plays in the sector, according to the Times.

Morgan Stanley reiterates equal weight on Home Retail Group, target price cut to 185p from 210p

JPMorgan initiates equal weight on ASOS, target price 2755p

SIGNIFICANT SHAREHOLDER UPDATE Ablon Group Limited, a leading real estate owner and developer in Central Europe, was informed on 10 June 2011 by the Hungarian Government Debt Management Agency Private Company Limited (Államadósság Kezelő Központ) that is acting on behalf of the Hungarian Pension Reform and Public Debt Reduction Fund (Nyugdíjreform és Adósság Csökkentő Alap) that they had acquired 5,929,538 Ablon shares, representing 4.37% of the issued share capital of the Company. The shares were acquired under the asset transfer as governed by Law 2010 CLIV (on Pension reform) and follows the equivalent reduction in the holding of ING Investment Management closed Co. Ltd as announced on 7 June 2011.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201106140806023854I

Ray Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Bango, commented: "The key development during the year was the decision to focus on the fast growing smartphone market segment, developing relationships with App Stores as a way of deploying Bango technology more widely. Bango'sagreement with RIM to provide carrier billing for BlackBerry App World announced in the first half is potentially transformational and resources have been re-allocated to ensure the success of the project. Bango is now developing a number of other significant "App Store" opportunities including those focussed on the increasingly popular Android platform. "As expected, the continued decline in end user spending on low-margin content for featurephones reduced gross profit from that part of the business. However, good progress in growing smartphone payment and analytics business resulted in an overall growth in gross margin in the second half. "The second half showed an underlying profit after allowing for one-time costs related to the acceleration of cost reduction in the featurephone business and a change in recognition of gross profit on mobile operator integrations. "Since the year end, the number of mobile operators activated for RIM has doubled and in May overall end user spending grew compared with April. Progress with RIM and other App Stores in the pipeline gives us confidence that we are well placed to accelerate this growth in future periods."

Operational Highlights · Business re-focused on high growth, higher margin smartphone market · Agreement with RIM to provide billing and settlement for BlackBerry App World · More than 60 new carrier integrations now underway · On track to announce second major App Store agreement in June 2011