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Pace warns on profits and margins Date: Tuesday 10 May 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - The Japanese tsunami's effect on the supply chain is just one of the factors that has hit Pace's first quarter profits, prompting the set-top box maker to lower profits guidance for the year. For the full year the board now expects operating profit to be in the range of $150m to $170m (£97m - £110m) after the group battled against a number of factors which affected profitability and margins in the first quarter. Pace said costs have been increased by the need to build up inventory levels ahead of schedule to ensure the company can fulfil customer orders. In addition, the group said the supply chain environment has been rocked by the Japanese tsunami, which has increased risk for the year. Profitability in the Pace Europe business unit has fallen short of management expectations, despite the unit hitting its revenue and volume targets. On the bright side, volume shipments and revenues for the group as a whole have been in line with expectations, with the latter up 24% year on year in the first quarter. The board expects operating margins in the first half of the financial year to decline to around 5.5%, but is confident that in the second half of the year they will return to a level close to the medium term target of 8%. “We have taken action and are making changes to improve our second half performance and beyond and to ensure we return to our 8% operating margin target,” said Neil Gaydon, chief executive of Pace. "Although we will now not be able to make up this first half under-performance in the second half we continue to drive long-term growth and profitability. The demand for our products and technologies continues to grow, ensuring our ongoing market leadership,” Gaydon said.

Financial position There have been no material changes to the financial position of the Group in the first four months of 2011. The refinancing of the bank revolver was successfully completed in April with a £150 million facility at improved pricing terms, with all eight relationship banks who had participated in the previous facility. The net restructuring and one off costs for 2011 are now expected to be less than £5 million. Costs of restructuring of c.£7 million are now expected to be offset by the sale of excess land and buildings in the first half and anticipated further sales in the second half of the year.

The Morgan Crucible Company plc ('Morgan Crucible'), the advanced materials company, is today holding its annual general meeting and issuing its 'Interim Management Statement' regarding trading for the first four months of 2011 and outlook for the full year 2011. · The Group has performed better than previously expected in the first four months of the year with good trading momentum across its end markets and geographies · In the four month period to April revenue increased by c.10%, at reported rates, against the comparable period last year, although year on year comparisons will become increasingly challenging as 2011 progresses · Net restructuring and one-off costs are now expected to be less than £5 million in 2011, the majority of which will be incurred in the first half of the year · Underlying operating profit margins (EBITA post restructuring and one-off costs) continued to improve, driven by positive trading and ongoing operational initiatives · In April, the Group refinanced its bank facilities with a new 5 year, £150 million revolving credit facility

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105100700132473G

CONT. n A significant part of the corporate pensions business which Friends Life has contracted to acquire from AXA is written in Winterthur Life UK Limited ("WLUK"). As announced at the time of the acquisition of the AXA UK Life businesses, Friends Life will complete the purchase of WLUK later in 2011 following regulatory approval and expected completion of certain Part VII Schemes. The purchase price to be paid for WLUK is fixed under the terms of the agreement with AXA and will not be adjusted to reflect the value of new business written in WLUK prior to completion of its acquisition by Friends Life. The value of business written in WLUK prior to completion of its acquisition will therefore accrue to Friends Life.

Interim Management Statement 10 May 2011 Executive summary n UK Life Project remains on track to deliver the targeted mid-teen returns with on-going progress on integration and delivery of targets announced at the time of the strategic update in February. n Resolution Limited ("Resolution") continues to be focused on improving the efficiency of cash and capital resources within the Group and a detailed update on the capital position will be given on 7 June 2011. Group available shareholder cash at 31 March 2011 totalled £1,052 million, comprising £482 million held by Resolution holding companies and £570 million held by Friends Life holding companies. Resolution remains confident of meeting the distributable cash target of £400 million per annum after interest costs from 2011 without reducing the MCEV of Friends Provident Holdings (UK) plc ("FPH"). n The estimated Insurance Group Capital Adequacy ("IGCA") surplus for FPH was £2.0 billion at 31 March 2011 after payments of dividends to Resolution holding companies of £250 million. n FPH has successfully issued £500 million of lower tier 2 debt on 18 April 2011, £100 million higher than initially anticipated due to strong demand. The £400 million bridge loan used in the acquisition of the AXA UK Life businesses was subsequently repaid from the proceeds of the funds. n The Friends Life brand was successfully launched at the end of March, bringing together Friends Provident, the acquired AXA UK Life businesses and Bupa Health Assurance ("BHA"). n Resolution sets out in the attached Appendix the new business sales for Friends Life for the first quarter of 2011. Sales (measured on an annual premium equivalent ("APE") basis) in the first quarter of 2011 were £270 million compared to £178 million for the same quarter in 2010. £66 million of the £92 million increase is due to the acquired AXA UK Life businesses and BHA. Friends Provident business sales grew by £26 million (up 15%) n UK sales were £172 million, comprising £106 million from Friends Provident (an increase of 20% on the comparable period in 2010) and £66 million from the acquired AXA UK Life businesses and BHA. Lombard and International sales were £98 million, up 9% on the comparable period in 2010.

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JUNIOR LAKE EXPLORATION Highlights: · Exploration drilling on the Junior Lake property has identified three new areas containing significant nickel mineralisation, including the B4-8 zone which recorded an intersection of 5.58 metres at 0.59 per cent nickel and 0.29 per cent copper in massive sulphides from drill hole 0411-301. The B4-8 zone is located to the west of Landore's B4-7 Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-Platinum Group Elements (PGEs) deposit.

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Joep van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer, said: "We have delivered revenues in line with our expectations and improved our gross margin, reflecting the strength of both our Audio & Consumer and Automotive & PND businesses. Our Handset business has secured design wins in smartphones, and we have made good progress on our operational plans to implement a new generation of products, to diversify our revenue and to expand beyond components into platforms. "Our next-generation of 40nm products, including the CSR9800 Bluetooth/Wi-Fi combination chip, the SiRFprimaII™ GPS/infotainmentplatform and the SiRFstarV™ GPS chip is on track, and is expected to contribute to revenues in 2012. We also launched CSR6000, a Wi-Fi platform for cars, and are working with Tier One suppliers in order to take this product into mass production, with revenues currently expected in early 2012. "We expect a stronger revenue performance for the second half of the year relative to the first half. Our Handset business will begin to show the benefits of our recent smartphone design wins, such as those with Samsung and Huawei, although we are seeing weakness in some areas of the handset market. We expect our Automotive & PND business to grow driven by the automotive design win pipeline and easing of capacity constraints in the area of PND products, and our Audio & Consumer business will continue to see growth led by increased demand for our products across the business unit. "We continue to invest in our catalysts for growth, which are building in strength."

· Good progress on key catalysts for growth o New smartphone GPS win with Huawei, adding to the previously announced Tier One GPS design win with Samsung, o Strong position in feature phones with CSR8000 series of Bluetooth products. Market leadership position maintained in the Bluetooth controller market for gaming and in Bluetooth audio headsets, o Design wins for SiRFatlas® and SiRFprima® GPS/infotainment auto industry platforms, o Development of new generation 40nm products, including CSR9800 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combination chip on track, with commitment from a Tier One smartphone manufacturer to be lead customer.

CSR plc ("CSR") today reports first quarter results for the 13 weeks to 1 April 2011: · First quarter financial performance o Q1 2011 revenues of $163.9m (Q1 2010: $173.0m) in line with management guidance, o Underlying gross margin increased to 49.1% (Q1 2010: 46.5%) driven by demand for higher margin products in Audio & Consumer and Automotive & PND (personal navigation devices), o Underlying R&D expenditure of $49.7m (Q1 2010: $43.7m) reflecting continued investment in our new generation of products and platforms, o Underlying SG&A expenditure of $30.7m (Q1 2010: $25.3m) reflecting the last elements of Broadcom litigation expense and expected to decline going forward, o Underlying diluted EPS of $0.02 (Q1 2010: $0.05) after finance income and R&D tax credits, o Diluted EPS of loss $0.01 (Q1 2010: profit $0.02) under IFRS, o Bought back 5,096,000 ordinary shares for a consideration of $31.0m during first quarter 2011.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105100700262636G

Andrew Cosslett, Chief Executive of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, said: "We delivered a strong set of results in the first quarter. Global revenue per available room (RevPAR) grew 6.9%, with 18.8% growth in Greater China and 8.4% in the US, the highest growth in the US since the second quarter 2006. Underlying revenue growth of 6% was converted to 23% operating profit growth, reflecting good use of our scale and the efficiency of our business model. "Our strategy to free up capital to drive growth for our brands is on track. Post quarter end we sold two hotels in the US, with proceeds substantially above book value. We have recently committed to enter into a joint venture with Duet Hotels to take Holiday Inn Express into India, developing 19 new hotels by 2016. "During the quarter, we welcomed The Venetian and The Palazzo Las Vegas into our system as our first InterContinental Alliance Resorts, boosting room supply by almost 7,000 and we continue to look for further opportunities of this kind. "We remain confident about the outlook for the rest of the year. Demand for our brands continues to strengthen with both guests and hotel owners. This is driving our performance and reinforcing our industry leading pipeline. We are well positioned to take advantage of the gathering rate momentum we now see around the world. "My time with IHG comes to a close on 30 June and I would like to thank all the people I've worked with over the past six years. I now hand over the reins to Richard Solomons, confident that he and the excellent team we have in place will lead IHG to a bright future."

http://www.halifaxmarketwatch.co.uk/rns.cgi?username=&ac=&action=news&rns=1&view=full&story_id=4221777

Stephen Dattels,Co Chairman of Emerging Metals, said: "We are very pleased to announce the signing of the option agreement with Ferrum Resources. The iron ore interests of Ferrum in Sierra Leone, together with the potential grant of an exploration license inthe CAR, mean the proposed investment could deliver significant shareholder value."

Under the terms of a convertible loan agreement entered into between the Company and Ferrum on 20 April 2011, the Company advanced US$752,500 (the "Loan"), repayable in full in cash on 31 October 2011 (unless otherwise agreed), or at any time earlier by conversion into 2,467,213 new ordinary shares in the capital of Ferrum (the "ConversionShares") at an effective price of US$0.305 each. If the Company elects or is required to acquire the Option Shares the Loan will be automatically set off from the Subscription Amount and would be deemed to be repaid in full. EML's directors Stephen Dattels and Jim Mellon are indirectly interested in 11,666,667 and 285,714 Ferrum ordinary shares respectively with Stephen Dattels indirectly holding an option to acquire a further 1,500,000 Ferrum ordinary shares at a price of GBP0.35 per share. These interests would, assuming exercise of the option indirectly held by Stephen Dattels and no other Ferrum share issues, amount to approximately 29.75 per cent. of Ferrum's issued ordinary share capital.

Option Agreement to acquire a 37.5 per cent. interest in Ferrum Resources Limited Emerging Metals Limited (AIM: EML) announces that on 9 May 2011 it executed a put and call option agreement (the "Option Agreement") with Ferrum Resources Limited ("Ferrum"), an iron ore exploration and development company with interests in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Central African Republic ("CAR"). Under the terms of the Option Agreement, * Ferrum has granted the Company a call option (the "Call Option"), for a consideration of US$1; * the Company has granted Ferrum a put option (the "Put Option"), for a consideration of US$1; * under the Call Option, the Company can exercise its right to subscribe for 26,228,570 new ordinary shares in the capital of Ferrum (the "Option Shares ") at a price of US$0.305 each (the "Subscription Price") provided that the Call Option is exercised within 120 days of the date of the Option Agreement, subject to extension in the case of a third party offer for all or any part of Ferrum's issued ordinary shares; * under the Put Option, Ferrum can require the Company to subscribe for the Option Shares (at the Subscription Price) at any time within 60 days of the date the Option Agreement save that the Put Option can only be exercised if Ferrum has received a legal opinion from its Sierra Leone counsel (in a form satisfactory to the Company) ("Sierra Leone Legal Opinion") confirming its interests in, and the good standing of, five exploration licenses in the country; * in each case the aggregate Subscription Price shall be US$7,999,713.85 (the "Subscription Amount"); * in aggregate, the Option Shares will, if issued, constitute 37.5 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital of Ferrum; * if the Company holds 10 per cent. or more shares in the capital of Ferrum then it will be entitled to have one director on the board of directors of Ferrum while if it holds 30 per cent. or more shares in the capital of Ferrum then it will have the right to appoint two directors to the board (one of whom shall be the Chairman of the board); and * on exercise of the Call Option or the Put Option and for so long as EML is a shareholder of Ferrum, the Company shall have the right of first refusal in proportion to its existing holdings in case of any further/future allotment of shares in Ferrum other than in the case of issues of new shares pursuant to the exercise of certain options/warrants or for non-cash consideration; such anti-dilution provision to cease upon admission of Ferrum ordinary shares to trading on certain designated markets.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20110510080000PFF68

Geoff Davis, Managing Director of Medusa, commented: "This on-going mapping has significantly enhanced the regional potential of the Tambis District. The outlining of a large intrusive-breccia complex with extensive alteration zones and containing the known diatreme breccia-hosted Bananghilig Deposit, milled breccia hosted mineralisation at Canugas as well as numerous mineralised epithermal veins and quartz stockworks, and the outcropping Sawahon Creek porphyry copper prospect and other copper prospects, all auger well for defining new deposits. "We see strong similarities with the Wafi Golpu Project in PNG with respect to the regional setting, rock types, mineralisation styles and potential. A comparative interpreted cross-section to the Figure 4 contained in this report is shown on page 10 of the presentation of the Harmony- Morobe Mining Joint Venture Analyst Tour dated March 2011. "In addition there are many similarities to the richly mineralised Baguio District north of Manila which has produced approximately 28 million ounces of gold and 2.8 million tonnes of copper."