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http://www.halifaxmarketwatch.co.uk/rns.cgi?username=&ac=&action=news&rns=1&view=full&story_id=4199321

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20110428070135PCBF1

The Tanfield Group Plc ("Tanfield") Publication of Annual Report and Accounts and AGM Circular Tanfield announces that its Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2010, plus its Notice of Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on 24 May 2011 are today being posted to shareholders and are available on the Company's website at http://www.tanfieldgroup.com/shareholderinformation_aimdocuments.asp.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104280700305957F

ZETA UNDERGROUND INFILL DRILLING SUCCESS Highlights * Last of the Zeta underground infill drilling results received - eighteen new intercepts reported from a 54 hole programme. * Three best mineralised intercepts exceed ten metres in thickness, with high grade zones over 2% copper and 40 g/t silver: * Hole GDRD1120: 11.4m @ 1.3 % Cu & 29.8 g/t Ag including 5.0m @ 2.4 % Cu & 56.1 g/t Ag * Hole GDRD1161: 17.65m @ 1.2 % Cu & 23.8 g/t Ag including 4.0m @ 2.8 % Cu & 62.8 g/t Ag * Hole GDRD1169: 13.5m @ 1.4 % Cu & 26.1 g/t Ag including 5.35m @ 2.3 % Cu & 42.3 g/t Ag * A review of results indicates that the average drilled thickness of the Zeta deposit beneath the planned open pit is more than 10 metres, at an average grade of 1.3% copper and 26.2 g/t silver. Similarly, the drilled thickness of a "high grade core" to mineralization is estimated to be approximately 6 metres thick, with an average grade of 2.1% copper and 43.1 g/t silver. * Preliminary results suggest that the parameters used in the Zeta Underground Mining Scoping Study (published 29 March 2011) are valid, although the high grade core to mineralisation, which is now recognised, creates a possibility of scheduling the mining of grades higher than the 1.4% used in the scoping study. * Updated Mineral Resource estimate for Zeta to be completed in Q2/2011.

http://www.halifaxmarketwatch.co.uk/rns.cgi?username=&ac=&action=news&rns=1&view=full&story_id=4199140

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Operating Review Gold production from the Norseman Gold Project during the three-month period to 31 March 2011 totalled 11,781 ounces; the Bullen Decline contributed 3,508 ounces, the Harlequin Decline contributed 5,368 ounces, the OK Decline contributed 1,815 ounces and the North Royal Open Pit contributed 326 ounces. The remaining 764 ounces came from the treatment of low-grade stockpiles. The underperformance of the underground mines has had the double headed effect of producing lower tonnes and consequently poured gold, as well as reduced volumes of hard-rock ore with which softer oxide ore from North Royal can be blended. As a result, as at the end of March 2011, Norseman currently has a stockpile of lower grade ore, approximately 12,000 tonnes at 1.7 g/t gold, from the North Royal Open Pit awaiting blending material to allow it to be treated. The gold price received during the quarter ranged from A$1,327 to A$1,420 per ounce, with an average price achieved of A$1,380 per ounce. As a result of the lower production profile, the net direct cash operating costs per ounce for the quarter were A$1,492 per ounce of gold recovered. The operations remain un-hedged with a gold price of approximately A$1,409 per ounce at present.

Three-Month Report On Activities For The Period Ended 31 March 2011 Norseman Gold, the AIM-listed and ASX-listed Australian gold production and exploration company is pleased to announce a three-month progress report on its activities for the period to 31 March 2011. Overview · The Company's capital investment programme continued during the quarter with expenditure of A$12.6M on exploration, capitalised mine development and equipment. · Mining activities at North Royal Open Pit continued on target providing a fourth source of ore to the mill with a stockpile of excess oxide low grade ore now awaiting treatment at the mine ore pad. · As previously announced in the Production and Profit Update, released April 15th, the OK Decline has continued to make slow progress in its ramp up and the existing underground mines, Bullen and Harlequin, have continued to struggle to lift production to acceptable and forecast levels with treated tonnage and grade below expectations. · Gold production from the Norseman Gold Project during the three months to 31 March 2011 totalled 11,781 ounces at a cash operating cost of A$1,492 per ounce gold, generating a Project EBIT of (A$4.1M). As previously announced gold production for the year is now forecast to be 55,000 to 60,000 ounces (35,172 ounces year to date 31 March 2011). · The Company's review and action plan for its operations has continued. A strategy to reduce costs and increase short term production has been implemented with the intent to return each of the underground mines to profitability in as short a time as possible and preserve cash resources. The review of the medium to long-term future of each of the underground mine is continuing, as is the potential to accelerate access to North Royal hard rock deeper down the pit that would enable the stockpiled material to be treated earlier. · Cash balances at the end of the period totalled A$18.8 million (A$18.3 million excluding bullion). Approximately A$6.1 million of this cash balance is committed to cash-backed environmental bonds.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104280700125668F

Broker Peel Hunt also noted the lowered revenue guidance for the second quarter but cheered the design win momentum, which remains “very strong". Provisionally, the broker has left its full year forecasts unchanged. Its recommendation is to buy the shares “on any short term weakness”.

RBS, which has a “buy” recommendation on the stock and a target price of 350p, said the post-results conference call for investment analysts was not “entirely convincing”, with management providing little additional information about the lower than expected sell-through at one of its major customers. “It remains unclear to us if there will be any snapback in revenues from this particular customer in the second half of 2011,” said RBS analyst Didier Scemama. On the bright side, the announced audio hub win at a 'major global consumer electronics brand’ for smartphones and tablets will have products in the market in the second or third quarter, Scemama disclosed.

Design win momentum at Wolfson By John Harrington Date: Wednesday 27 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Wolfson Microelectronics has been in a slump since the middle of February but the share price got a fillip from the chip designer’s first quarter results. Revenue in the first three months of 2011 rose 44% to $41.1m from $28.5m a year earlier, and a tad ahead of market consensus of $41.0m. Sales more than doubled year-on-year in mobile phones, particularly smartphones, gaming, eBooks and PC/tablets, the company said. The underlying operating loss narrowed to $0.9m from a loss of $4.9m. The market had been expecting an operating profit of $0.4m. With exceptional items such as amortisation of intangible assets included, the operating loss contracted to $3.4m from $7.1m. Reported loss before tax was $3.5m versus a loss of $6.9m in the first quarter of 2010. Gross margin fell to 47.1% in the first quarter from 51.5% a year earlier. The market had been braced for a fall in the gross margin, but only as far as 47.3%. The company said it picked up a number of new customers during the quarter, including smartphone king Research In Motion, which selected a Wolfson audio hub for the recently launched BlackBerry PlayBook tablet PC. A number of brokers had expressed concerns before the results about the impact on Wolfson’s business of the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, but the company said the tragedy has thus far had minimal impact. “The company has identified no issues to date with its supply chain. However, the indirect impact to customers as a result of potential raw material or component shortages is harder to predict. Wolfson continues to monitor the situation closely with customers and suppliers,” the company said. Looking ahead to the second quarter, the company said it anticipates further year-on-year growth, helped by broader market penetration but moderated by lower than anticipated end product sell-through at a major customer during the first and second quarters of 2011. With a degree of uncertainty surrounding the timing of end-customers' new product ramps and with the ongoing situation in Japan in mind, the company expects revenues to be in the range of $37m - $45m, well below consensus, according to broker RBS. The consensus had been around $51m (median value) before the trading update. Gross margin is expected to be around 47% for the second quarter, increasing to around 50% for the full year. "The growth momentum we achieved last year has continued into the first quarter of 2011,” said chief executive officer, Mike Hickey. “We are also pleased to report that last year's record design-in performance has continued with over 100 new design-in successes during the quarter,” Hickey added. "Despite the first half impact of slower than expected end product sell-through at a major customer, previously reported design-ins ar

Life assurance firm Standard Life issues an interim management statement covering the first quarter of 2011. Panmure Gordon is forecasting “life and pensions sales at £4,998m (+8%) PVNBP [present value of new business premiums] including the UK at £3577m (+7%) PVNBP.” Market consensus for life and pension sales is £4,940m. “We are expecting a continued recovery in sales following the positive comments made by the company concerning sales in Q1 2011 at the time of the prelims in March. The UK has a relatively tough comparative but we still believe that it will still show progress over Q1 2010,” the broker adds. Panmure Gordon is not holding out much hope for a turbo boost to assets under management, which it thinks will have edged up 2.8% over the course of the quarter to £202.2bn.

Anglo-Swedish drugs group AstraZeneca is tipped to declare first quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $2.10, but Nomura Securities thinks the company will top market expectations and announce EPS of around $2.18, with “the growth driven by lower tax-rate (reduced to 12.8% from 27.1%) on account of tax settlements despite ongoing genericisation of Arimidex and Toprol XL and anticipated currency headwinds of 1.5%.” The Japanese broker thinks first quarter net sales will be $8,454m, versus market consensus of $8,420m. Astra’s sector peer, Shire, is expected by Credit Suisse to have put in a strong first quarter performance on the back of its Aderall XR product, which should have seen a sharp increase in volumes shifted during the first three months of the year.

Another Anglo-Dutch leviathan, Unilever, is also due to report on Thursday. Matrix Group reckons market expectations for the household goods conglomerate are undemanding. “Brisk organic growth rates of 8.5% and 6.4% reported in the same period by key European comparators Danone and Nestlé, respectively, suggest the company’s polled consensus of 4.5% may be too low. Our contribution to that consensus poll was higher at 5.1% organic sales growth in the quarter,” notes Matrix analyst Chris Wickham. “Our greater optimism than the market for Unilever is based on stronger pricing expectations. We expect an in line with consensus 3.0% organic volume gain in the quarter, which itself would be lower than Danone’s 5.0% volume expansion and Nestlé’s 4.9%,” Wickham added. “However, the market looks for Unilever pricing to advance only by 1.5%. While this would be the same as Nestlé, it should be noted that Unilever’s 2011 Q1 laps a quarter (2010 Q1) in which pricing fell by 3.3% compared with Nestlé which lapped a quarter when pricing advanced 1.7%. On pricing, there is clear scope for Unilever to outperform the analyst consensus,” the broker reckons. RBS, meanwhile, forecasts underlying sales growth of 4.4% year on year, with “pricing moving positive to +1%, and volume growth moderating vs 2010 to 3.4%”. “We expect the 1Q performance to be broadly consistent with the trends the group anticipates for the full year, though the late Easter and the recent geopolitical developments in markets like Japan and Cote D’Ivoire could take the edge off the 1Q trends,” RBS believes.

Date: Wednesday 27 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - As is usually the case, hot on the heels of a trading update from oil titan BP comes a report from its Anglo-Dutch rival Royal Dutch Shell. Broker Charles Stanley says that after Shell’s fourth quarter update failed to cut the mustard, the first quarter update “will be quite an important staging post to see how Shell is performing financially against its growth plans.” Charles Stanley analyst Tony Shepard is going for a 20% increase in earnings to $5.8bn from $4.8bn in the first quarter of last year. “Upstream activities could produce earnings of $5bn compared to $4.3bn in 2010,” Shepard suggests. “Production volumes may not show much improvement because last year was a strong comparative and there has been maintenance work in the North Sea and Nigeria together with restrained Gulf of Mexico output. However, in the first quarter of 2011, Brent oil prices have averaged $105/bbl compared to $76/bbl a year ago and this will have the largest impact on the bottom line. Gas pricing has been mixed with the average US Henry Hub price lower at $4.11/mmbtu (2010; $5.3/mmbtu) but UK gas prices have been much higher than a year ago. The UK average price has been about 56p/therm compared to 36p/therm a year ago,” Shepard noted. Downstream activities are expected by Charles Stanley to have generated earnings of $1bn compared to $0.8bn a year ago.

Publisher Pearson‘s reliance on education is not without risk, as it is dependent on state budget decisions, it has proved lucrative for Pearson. Its latest bolt-on acquisition of Schoolnet reacts to the US government’s increased focus on personalised, computer-based learning. The FT Group, the division which includes the Financial Times, performed well in 2010, with revenues of GBP403m, although the picture for 2011 is not clear. Paid-for digital subscriptions rose 50pc in 2010 to 207,000 and there have been nearly 1m downloads of FT apps on mobile phones and tablets. The Telegraph’s Questor believes the shares are a hold.

Pinewood Shepperton (PWS) has recommended an improved takeover offer from Peel Holdings, its largest shareholder, valuing the film studio owner at 96.1 million pounds (159.2 million dollars). The 200p a share in cash and 2.5p dividend offer follows news last week that businessman Mohammed Al Fayed was considering making an all cash offer for the group. Shares in Pinewood, whose stages have been used for James Bond films and many other big budget productions, fell 9.5p to 203.5p.

Shares in Baqus Group (BQS) plummeted 1.125p to 1.25p on news the building consultancy and quantity surveying group has proposed to cancel the trading of its shares on AIM. The group, which acquired Sworn King partnership of Oxford in 2008 and the Nigel Rose Group of London in 2009, has notified shareholders of a general meeting to be held on 23rd May 2011 to vote on the board's proposal.