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Stephen Goodyear, Chief Executive of Young's, commented: "This has been a productive and exciting year for Young's both with the trading improvements we are seeing in our business and the acquisition of Geronimo in December. "Despite the ongoing backdrop of constrained consumer spending, the group has delivered a good set of results for the period whilst retaining our premium position and has seen strong momentum since the year end. "We continued to invest in our managed and tenanted pubs during the period, and our recent investment in our hotel business is now clearly bearing fruit. "Overall, Young's is in very good shape. The integration of Geronimo is proceeding as planned and the synergies we envisaged at the time of the acquisition are coming through. Our strategy is focussed on developing our existing sites to their full potential, whether as a Young's or Geronimo pub, and on continuing to grow our managed estate. We are very excited about the potential for both brands. "Although consumer spending is likely to remain under pressure in the near term, we are cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the current year as a whole. Overall, we believe that the quality and growth potential of our estate will help us to mitigate the effect of what remains a very fragile economic recovery"

· Good performance across all areas of the business; · Managed house revenue increased 13.2% to £127.8 million, with same outlet like for like revenue up 1.9%, and operating profit up 11.1%; · Better occupancy and room rates have driven RevPar (revenue per available room) up 14.2% at £44.11 and hotel revenues up 15.2%; · Tenanted business like for like revenue up 1.2%, and operating profit up 1.9%; · Solid performance at Wells & Young's; · £60.0 million acquisition of Geronimo in December 2010 fits well with our premium London managed houses expansion strategy; integration progressing as planned; · Net debt increased by £60.0 million to £122.6 million, reflecting Geronimo acquisition; balance sheet remains robust; · Progressive dividend policy maintained; proposed 2.0% increase in the final dividend to 6.90 pence per share, resulting in a total dividend for the year of 13.26 pence (2010: 13.00 pence); · Very strong trading in managed estate in first seven weeks of current year, up 34.2% in total (including Geronimo) and up 8.8% on a like for like basis.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105260700123095H

Goldman reiterated conviction buy on Land Securities, target price raised to 952p from 892p.

Morgan Stanley say equal weight on Mitchell & Butlers, target price cut to 330p from 370p.

Goldman reiterated conviction buy on Aveva Group, target price reiterated at 2,500p

Alliance Pharma cuts sales guidance By Benjamin Chiou Date: Thursday 26 May 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Shares in pharmaceutical company Alliance Pharma fell back on Thursday - despite a positive first four months of the year - after it cut its sales guidance of its enteric-coated prednisolone product. As previously reported, the group had warned that it is facing generic competition in relation to Deltacortil, mainly due to launch of a second generic competitor at the end of last year. While Alliance said in March that the impact had not been quite as bad as first thought, chairman Michael Gatenby said that "there has recently been increasing pressure on both price and volumes." As a result, the group has scaled back its expectations for the ongoing run rate of Deltacortil sales. However, strong trading in the first four months (with turnover 14% higher than the previous year at £17.1m) should offset the negative effect of competition. "However, we are now more cautious about the outlook for Deltacortril in 2012 as this competitive market develops," Gatenby said. --- BC

AGM Statement Alliance Pharma plc (AIM: APH), the speciality pharmaceutical company, will hold its Annual General Meeting in London later this morning. Michael Gatenby, the Company's Chairman, will make the following comments: "I am pleased to report that trading in the first four months of 2011 has been ahead of our expectations with turnover of £17.1 million, 14% higher than the same period last year. "As previously reported, we are facing some generic competition in relation to Deltacortril / enteric coated prednisolone and have been monitoring the impact on the sales of the product since the launch of a second generic competitor towards the end of 2010. We reported in March 2011 that the impact had not been quite as significant as expected. However, there has recently been increasing pressure on both price and volumes and, as a result, we have reduced our expectations for the ongoing run rate of Deltacortril sales. Given the strong start to the year, this is not expected to significantly affect our overall performance for the current financial year. However, we are now more cautious about the outlook for Deltacortril in 2012 as this competitive market develops. "We are pleased to report that the dermatology and oncology portfolios continue to grow well. "We were delighted to announce last week the renewal of the ImmuCyst® distribution agreement and to announce last month the completion of the acquisition of AnbesolTM and Ashton & ParsonsTM. We continue to consider further acquisition opportunities."

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105260700153281H

MedicX sees strong demand continuing Date: Thursday 26 May 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Healthcare property investor MedicX Fund reported continued strong demand for new purpose-built primary health care facilities as it posted results for the half year to 31 March. Total income during the period was up to £6.2m from £5.7m over the same period the previous year. “MedicX Fund is well positioned to take advantage of its investment pipeline and ensure that its fifth year continues and expands upon the already proven track record of delivering steady and increasing returns from its property portfolio,” chairman David Staples said. “With significant opportunities to add to the high quality property portfolio, MedicX Fund is well placed to continue delivering progressive long-term returns to shareholders.”

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105260700143120H

Phytopharm losses widen as development continues Date: Thursday 26 May 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Losses widened at Phytopharm in the six months to 31 March as the developer of pharmaceuticals derived from plants accelerated its development programmes. The company posted a pre-tax loss of £3.9m, almost double the £2.1m deficit seen in the same period the previous year. Chief executive Tim Sharpington thanked the Motor Neurone Disease Society for its support in developing Cogane, used to treat Parkinson’s and other diseases. He also pointed to the effectiveness of Myogane, also used to treat a variety of diseases. “We will continue our strategy of focussing investment on the development of these pharmaceutical assets,” chief executive Tim Sharpington said.

James Fisher wins sub rescue gig Date: Thursday 26 May 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Marine services provider James Fisher has been called on by Swedish navy to modernise the navy's submarine rescue capability. James Fisher will undertake a full refit of the existing vehicle and design of the Swedish navy's rescue vehicle (known locally as a URF). The company will also build and integrate a series of new systems to maintain the vehicle's performance, while optimising safety and operability. Once the upgraded vehicle has been returned to service in March of next year, James Fisher will continue to work with the Swedish navy to keep it ticking over. The contract is worth around £11m.

DS Smith is an international packaging supplier and office products wholesaler, involved in the supply of corrugated and plastic packaging and recycled paper and the wholesaling of office products. On consensus forecasts, DS Smith shares are trading on a p/e of a little over 12 and offer a dividend yield effective of about 3%, with the prospect of a more generous distribution policy as earnings improve. This appears to, as they say, tick many of the contemporary “recycled” and environmental boxes. Buy, says the Scotsman.

Yesterday’s half-yearly results prompted plenty of bullishness at Innovation.The last financial year saw the small-cap software group radically reshape its business, and the figures certainly suggest that the strategy is working – and working well. The results certainly seem to validate the new team’s approach, and although there is still a lot of work to do, Innovation looks like it’s on the right track. Buy, the Independent advises

nstead of cultivating home consumers, software company Aveva focuses on big companies with its expertise in engineering software. In particular, it has an enviable position in the oil, gas and power markets. Numis now puts the stock on under 25 times forward earnings, which is an improvement. There is also little doubt that this a strong business, with stellar prospects. There was nothing in yesterday’s statement that would justify a sell recommendation. Hold, says the Independent.

Business travel is one of the first to be hit by any economic downturn, as less business means less travel. Hogg Robinson took immediate action when the crunch came, cutting its cost base by 20%. A final dividend of 1p makes a total up by a quarter to 1½p, well covered, giving a historic yield of about 2.5% and the board is offering a better return in due course. But the market’s scepticism may not be allayed too soon; a weak hold, according to the Times. Trading on just over seven times next year’s forecast full-year earnings, the shares remain keenly priced and business travel is still growing into a recovering global economy. Hold for now but buy again on any weakness, is the Independent’s view on Hogg Robinson.

Horizonte eyes resource increase in Brazil Thu, 26/05/2011 - 11:05 | Fiona Bond Horizonte Minerals (HZM) has continued to advance its wholly-owned Araguaia nickel project in Brazil as it eyes up a resource increase by the end of this year. The Brazilian-focused explorer said it had made solid progress at the project since the beginning of the year, including the release of the maiden resource of 76.6 metric tonnes at a grading of 1.35% nickel and 0.06% cobalt. "We have increased our drilling capacity on the project, with seven drill rigs now active on three of the main target areas," said chief executive Jeremy Martin. "We are working towards increasing the resource towards a 100 metric tonnes target by the fourth quarter and upgrading and delineating a higher grade core in the indicated category." To date, AIM-listed Horizonte has completed a total of 173 holes, totalling over 5,000 metres. "Despite its share price taking a battering over the last few weeks, Horizonte continues to advance its Araguaia nickel project on a number of fronts," commented Finncap mining analyst Joe Lunn. Elsewhere, Horizonte has selected final drill targets on the Falaco gold project, testing the three kilometre long gold in soil anomaly. The AIM-traded group plans to start a 3,000 diamond drill programme in early June with the aim of defining a major mineralised system, after clocking up "significant activity" over the last three months along with strategic partner AngloGold Ashanti (AGD). "We believe that the start of this programme at Falcao should generate considerable interest in the shares as the potential exists for a significant gold discovery. We continue to believe that our valuation of 36p per share is achievable before the end of the year," Lunn added.

Robert Walters faced a stinging shareholder revolt at its annual meeting yesterday, with investors rejecting pay policies at the recruitment group. Of the votes cast, nearly 44 per cent were against the remuneration report. Another 16 per cent were withheld. The revolt came after the remuneration committee decided to award bonuses of more than the set limit of 100 per cent of salary for executive directors, the Independent reports.

Peter Voser, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, has held talks with Igor Sechin, Russia’s powerful energy tsar, about possible co-operation in exploration of the Arctic and the Black Sea as the country seeks alternatives to the failed strategic tie-up between Rosneft and BP. Coming just days after Rosneft’s proposed $16bn share swap with the UK oil group expired last week, the meeting between Mr Voser and Mr Sechin earlier this week in Moscow will heighten speculation that the Russian state oil champion is preparing to replace BP with another partner, according to the Financial Times.