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The good times keep on rolling at Galliford Try, the housebuilder and construction company. The 103-year-old firm yesterday boasted that it had been selected as a partner on three affordable housing contracts worth a total of GBP584m in London, the South-east and eastern regions of England. The fact that its shares trade on multiples of around 9 times forward earnings only serves to seal the bull case, in our view, says the Independent, which has a buy recommendation.

Ryanair is set to allow customers on all its flights to reserve seats, the no-frills carrier has told The Independent. In a radical departure from usual practice, the airline said trials of a €10 “book-a-seat” service between Dublin and Gatwick and Dublin and Malaga launched last month had proved to be far more successful than expected, the paper says.

A medical devices group developing non-tobacco nicotine delivery systems has won the backing of Sir Terry Leahy in the latest private investment by the former Tesco chief executive since he retired in March. Sir Terry has put an undisclosed sum behind Kind Consumer, a start-up that will announce on Thursday a commercial partnership with Nicoventures, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco devoted to the marketing and sale of non-tobacco consumer products, the Financial Times reports.

Oberthur Technologies declared yesterday that it had no intention of relaunching a takeover bid for its British banknote printing rival De La Rue. But its simultaneous announcement that it had appointed De La Rue’s former boss as an adviser sparked speculation that the bid will, at some stage, be back on, the Times reports.

Social services are poised to step in to protect the welfare of elderly people paying their own way in homes run by the embattled Southern Cross chain. As central and local government moved to quell rising anxiety over the future of Southern Cross’s 750 care homes, and the 31,000 people who live in them, a social services leader gave the first assurance that councils would go beyond their strict, statutory responsibility only to publicly-funded residents, reports the Guardian.

Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI) expects to report a below expectations pre-tax loss of less than 0.2 million pounds for the full-year due mainly to a number of difficulties encountered in the run-up to the year end. The group added that revenue is expected to be over 7.4 million pounds for the year, however, an increase of 4% over 2010.

The challenging economic environment for retailers has led Topps Tiles (TPT) to expect a continuation of subdued consumer confidence, as the tile and wood flooring specialist posted widened pre-tax profits for the half year. The company reported a pre-tax profit of 10 million pounds for the 26-weeks ended 2nd April 2011, which compares to a profit of 7.4 million pounds for the 27-week period last year, as like-for-like revenue increased by 1.8%.

Brewin Dolphin restated its "buy" rating for Optos (OPTS), the medical technology company, with a reduced target price of 219p, down from 253p. The broker said that whilst assessing the underlying health of the business is very difficult with so many moving parts and changes, its sense is that the core US business is stable/slightly-negative. Nevertheless, with opportunities in the international and ophthalmology markets beginning to emerge as well as the potential opportunity from the new low cost device, Brewin is confident going forward

Shore Capital upgraded its recommendation for Britvic (BVIC), the soft drinks maker, from "sell" to "buy". The broker noted the "robust" set of interims last week and said they provide it with confidence that its full-year expectations can be met. What's more, Singer added that whilst the economic backdrop in core markets remains challenging and the risk of margin pressure from further increases in input cost inflation is still present, it believes the worst has now passed and a level of caution is factored into market forecasts

Daniel Stewart reiterates buy on Medicsight

Arbuthnot maintained its "strong buy" recommendation for William Sinclair (SNCL), the producer of horticulture products, with an increased target price of 250p, up from 200p. Although there is no further news yet on a settlement with Natural England on compensation for Bolton Fell, the broker notes that management has used the 9 million pounds cash received last year to bolster its trading advantage relative to its competition. With that said, Arbuthnot added that the investment in technology and sales infrastructure has led to the securing of higher levels of business over the important Easter period.

GE&CR initiated coverage of Ovoca Gold* (OVG) with a 59.5p target price. Commenting on the group, the research house said it is a well-funded gold explorer and mine developer with a proven track record of creating value and could form an awfully attractive ticket to enter the Russian gold industry. Furthermore, GE&CR added that an increased JORC resource statement could be issued in the coming months for Rassoshinskaya Olcha which is likely to prompt it to "materially" increase the target price.

Panmure Gordon reiterates sell on Xchanging, recommended price 98.75p

AlphaValue downgrades Antofagasta to reduce, target price reduced from 1,435.40p to 1,273.30p.

BXRM, indirectly owned by BXR Group Limited ('BXR Group'), has decided that it is willing to make available to the market up to approximately 16 million A shares of NWR (representing approximately 6.1% of NWR's outstanding shares) in order to further enhance trading liquidity in the shares following NWR's re-incorporation as a UK PLC. Following the IPO of New World Resources N.V. ('NWR NV') in May 2008, a subsidiary of BXR Group retained a majority holding of the A shares in NWR NV. This holding, which is now a shareholding in NWR, has subsequently been increased to its current level of approximately 64.3%, principally as a result of the exit in May 2009 of American Metals and Coal International, Inc. ('AMCI') and First Reserve Corporation ('First Reserve') from their indirect shareholdings in NWR NV. BXRM's decision relates only to a portion of this incremental shareholding. BXRM supported the re-incorporation of NWR from a Dutch NV to a UK PLC as a means of enhancing trading in the shares and attracting long term institutional shareholders in the UK. With FTSE UK Index inclusion anticipated to occur in June 2011, BXRM has now made this decision to make shares available in order to accommodate interest from investors. However, BXRM does not intend to make available more than approximately 16 million A shares of NWR and, as any transaction will be subject to price, there is no assurance that it will dispose of this number of shares.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201106020700147283H

and the excellent figures keep coming!

Nick Robertson, CEO, commented: "I am pleased to report another successful year for ASOS, with retail sales up 58% to £324.1m and profit5 up 41% to £28.6m. "Our International expansion programme remains firmly on track with International retail sales up 142% on last year. During the year we launched country specific sites in the USA, France and Germany and we plan to launch three further country specific sites in the coming financial year. "We have continued our investment programme to meet anticipated growth targets. Key to this is the ongoing transition to a new 530,000 sq ft warehouse in Barnsley, which will be fully operational by June 2011. "We remain positive in our outlook for 2012 and are excited by the opportunities for both our UK and international businesses."

Highlights: · Retail sales up 58% (UK retail sales up 25%, International retail sales up 142%) · International retail sales accounted for 43% of total retail sales (2010: 28%) and over 50% during the fourth quarter · Profit before tax and exceptional items up 41% to £28.6m · USA, French and German websites launched · ASOS Marketplace and ASOS Fashion Finder websites launched · ASOS Mobile site and Facebook stores launched · New warehouse transition on track and on budget. An exceptional charge of £12.9m has been taken during the year to reflect the direct costs of the transition.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201106020700117145H