Member Info for mulledwine

OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS · Continued European growth o European revenues up 21% to £80.0m o Abstral a key driver of growth o Adcal-D3 sales up 14% to £23.2m · US business experienced challenges and successes o Sancuso sales of £6.8m despite manufacturing interruption o Fortesta approved by FDA o Abstral approved by FDA in early January 2011 · Worldwide partnering programme made a significant contribution o Partnering product sales revenues of £2.4m o Fortesta FDA approval triggered £8.1m ($12.5m) milestone payment (cash received January 2011) o 13 approvals and 5 new product country launches through partners · Refinancing of the Group's borrowing facility in January 2011 o New strategic relationship with Paladin Labs Inc. announced o Reduced rate of borrowing and capital repayments extended until January 2014 o Exclusive out-license distribution agreement for Canada and certain emerging territories

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS · Total revenues of £100.2m (2009: £79.0m) o Continued strong European performance o Partnering income of £13.4m including £8.1m milestone payment on US approval of Fortesta (2009: £5.2m) · EBITDA of £10.8m (2009: £5.1m loss) · Operating profit of £6.1m (2009: £9.6m loss) · Pre-tax loss reduced to £0.6m (2009: £15.0m) · Closing cash position of £19.4m (31 December 2009: £19.0m)

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103170700131059D

Commenting, Andy Hogarth, Staffline's Chairman and Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted with today's announcement and look forward to building on Ethos' strong regional presence."

ACQUISITION OF ETHOS RECRUITMENT LIMITED Staffline Group plc, a national outsourcing organisation providing people and operational expertise to industry, today announces the acquisition of Ethos Recruitment Limited ("Ethos"), a Daventry-based recruitment agency. The acquisition is in line with Staffline's business strategy of making selective bolt-on acquisitions to broaden both revenue stream and customer base. Ethos Recruitment is a leading supplier of temporary and permanent staff in the Daventry, Rugby and Northampton areas and is an approved supplier of personnel including, skilled & unskilled basic manual & engineering labour as well as highly qualified HGV, LGV & other professional contract drivers, to many blue chip organisations in the region. Staffline will build on Ethos' already strong customer relationships and master vendor agreements.

http://www.halifaxmarketwatch.co.uk/rns.cgi?username=&ac=&action=news&rns=1&view=full&story_id=4114449

Ed Warner, Chairman, commented: "After a very difficult first half of the year, it is encouraging to see a marked improvement in the second half of the year. We enter 2011 with a promising pipeline of business, particularly in the US where transactions are being executed despite the continuing challenging markets."

Operating and business highlights Group acted on fundraisings which raised more than £980m for clients and M&A teams acted on transactions worth over £900m. Appointed to 19 new corporate clients in the UK, with an increasing emphasis on companies that have exposure to growing economies. In UK, Extel results improved significantly with our smaller company research being top four ranked. Second half investment banking revenue at US subsidiary ThinkEquity was four times greater than first half. Momentum in US investment banking continues. Created Joint Venture with Ambit Capital, one of India's fastest growing investment banks. Panmure Gordon Singapore office to open in first half of 2011, reflecting recent business gains and opportunities.

Panmure Gordon & Co. plc today announces preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2010. Financial performance Reported adjusted operating loss for the year of £3.2m was incurred entirely in the first half. Group H2 revenues of £23.3m, up 36% on H1. Statutory loss for the year of £7.4m (2009: £11.1m loss), after provision for exceptional items including restructuring costs, one-off legal provisions and IFRS 2 charges. Adjusted loss per share 2.20p (2009: 1.24p loss). Statutory loss per share 5.10p (2009: 10.63p loss).

Mesopotamia Petroleum Company Limited ("MPC") In our interim statement published in September we referred to MPC, our 32.7% owned associated company's attempts to acquire a package of drilling assets. This has proved unsuccessful. The Board of MPC has since reached agreement with all of its creditors for the deferral of their claims. The objective of this approach is to allow MPC to continue in business while it awaits an improvement in both the situation in Iraq and the financial markets generally. The MPC Board continues to believe that there will be tangible opportunities for MPC as those improvements occur and at that time MPC will seek to raise sufficient funding both to secure its future plans and repay the creditors claims. MPC has meantime reduced its activities and its expenditure whilst continuing to monitor the situation and opportunities in Iraq. In order to fund ongoing near term activities, a number of existing MPC shareholders have agreed to inject £50,000 through the issue of new shares in MPC. As a result of this share issue SeaEnergy's holding in MPC will rise to 40.21%. SeaEnergy directors S E Remp and S R Bertram will see their direct holdings in MPC rise to 5.09% and 0.45% respectively. SeaEnergy PLC has already provided in full for its investment in MPC.

Tim Breedon, Group Chief Executive, said: "In 2010 we successfully demonstrated we can both grow the business and deliver improved net cash generation. Today's results evidence the value created by our improved business model. We are building a strong track record in delivering cash which, coupled with the high visibility of future cash flows, has given the Board the confidence to recommend a further 25% increase in the final dividend to 3.42p per share. "We are confident about the growth prospects for Legal & General. Customer demand is rising in the UK, and we have the right business model and product mix for the current economic and demographic environment. There is consolidation in many of our markets, and this further underpins our confidence that Legal & General will be a growing force as the welfare state retrenches and individuals increasingly look to high-quality, good value risk, savings and investment provision. We expect to generate £700m of net cash in 2011. "Our balance sheet is strong, each of our business divisions is profitable and cash-generative, and we are delivering excellent results across the Group."

Legal & General delivers growth across the business, IFRS operating profit of £1,002m, cash generation of £728m and increases final dividend by 25% · WORLDWIDE SALES UP 28% TO £1.8BN APE (2009: £1.4BN APE), NET ASSET FLOWS £9.7BN (2009: £10.5BN) · IFRS OPERATING PROFIT £1,002M (2009: £1,109M), IFRS PRE TAX PROFIT £1,092M (2009: £1,074M) · OPERATIONAL CASH GENERATION UP 11% to £808m (2009: £726M) NET CASH GENERATION £728M (2010 TARGET: £600M, 2009: £699M) PLAN TO GENERATE £700M NET CASH · EARNINGS PER SHARE 14.07P (2009: 14.82P) · FULL YEAR DIVIDEND UP 24% TO 4.75P PER SHARE (2009: 3.84P PER SHARE) · EEV PROFIT BEFORE TAX UP 204% TO £1,677M (2009: £522M) EEV PER SHARE UP 16% TO 132P (31/12/2009: 114P) · IGD SURPLUS UP TO £3.7BN (31/12/2009: £3.1BN) · IFRS RETURN ON EQUITY 18.2% (2009: 22.2%)

http://www.halifaxmarketwatch.co.uk/rns.cgi?username=&ac=&action=news&rns=1&view=full&story_id=4114453

Nigel Little, Chairman of Niche, commented: "The G-2 well has identified three attractive hydrocarbon-bearing zones. All have near-term production capability and cash-flow generation potential."

http://www.halifaxmarketwatch.co.uk/rns.cgi?username=&ac=&action=news&rns=1&view=full&story_id=4114404

Qatar bank bids for Islamic Bank of Britain Date: Wednesday 16 Mar 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Qatar International Islamic Bank is making an agreed bid of 1p a share for the shares it does not own in AIM-quoted Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), which is one-third of the share price prior to the announcement of the bid. The bid values IBB at £25.5m. Last August, the Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) invested £20m into IBB through a placing at 1p a share, which gave it a 81% stake. That summer was the only time that the share price has dipped below 1p. IBB floated on AIM on 12 October 2004, when it raised £38.5m at 25p a share. The share price was 3.38p at the close of trading on 15 September. IBB says that it believes that it would be difficult to independently secure finance to enable it to grow in order to achieve profitability. Profitable QIIB’s strategy is to develop an international Sharia-compliant banking business and it believes that IBB would fit in with these plans. It believes that acquiring the minority stake in the business is the best way of achieving its strategy. IBB’s 2010 operating income was flat at £1.6m. The loss fell from £9.5m to £8.1m. The net asset value was £26.2m at the end of 2010. Trading is likely to continue to be tough in 2011. Because QIIB owns more than 75% of IBB it can ensure that any shareholder resolutions would be passed so it already has effective control.

Brooks MacDonald confident after profits rise Date: Wednesday 16 Mar 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Wealth manager Brooks Macdonald said it was well-placed to cash in on the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) as it posted a rise in profits and revenues. Pre-tax profits in the six months to 31 January rose to £3.06m from £2.47m in the same period the previous year as revenues rose to £25.07m from £16.39m. Funds under management climbed by 46% to £2.689bn. “The company has had another strong period with growth across all of its activities, underpinned by continued strong performance from our fund management teams and the support received from the professional intermediary market,” chief executive Chris Macdonald said. “We continue to look to grow and invest across the business confident that the group is well positioned for the opportunities ahead, including those presented by the Retail Distribution Review.” The RDR was launched by the Financial Standards Authority to improve consumer confidence in financial firms.

MearsBUY 15/03/2011 Miles Nolan In a year in which both Connaught and Rok went to the wall, Mears (MER) has shown no signs of slowing down, indeed another record performance is in prospect. A combination of organic and acquisition led growth has left Mears as the clear market leader in both social housing and domiciliary care. Mears has won a record level of contracts in both divisions, and now sports an order book worth in excess of £3 billion. In social housing Mears provides maintenance and repair work to over 10% of the UK's housing stock and is witnessing strong demand - largely due to the non-discretionary nature of its contracts. A major factor in the demise of its rivals was their focus on chasing new contracts, irrespective of the margins achieved. Mears has been careful not to over-bid and to only chase profitable work, even still there is a bid pipeline of a chunky £2bn to chase. Government cutbacks are well documented, however, commitments are still in place to build 150,000 new social homes. As local authorities seek efficiency gains in essential repairs, Mears should be well placed to deliver work which it often has a legal obligation to provide. In domiciliary care Mears now provides over 150,000 hours of care a week, and is on the lookout for suitable acquisitions in what is still a fragmented market. Now in its 15th consecutive record year, Mears achieved a 11% increase in sales to £523.9m in the the twelve months to 31 December as operating profits increased 27% to £31.3m. The bottom line figure was muddied by £2.45m of exceptional charges relating to integration and acquisition costs. Mears enjoys 93% visibility of consensus forecasts for the current year and 80% for 2012. Broker Collins Stewart expects pre-tax profits of £39.6m and EPS of 28p. Mears has net debt of £12.2m but this should be repaid by the end of the year and a new bank facility of £85m has been signed to help fund the business. On 10 times current year earnings, Mears is a quality business that deserves more. Buy.

Profits dive at Billington 15/03/2011 Robert Tyerman Structural steel and engineering group Billington (BILN) sees 'light at the end of the tunnel' after pre-tax profits down 73 per cent to £1.4 million. The Barnsley-based AIM company, which supplies building contractors serving the retail and other sectors, saw turnover drop 26 per cent in 2010 to £42.3 million, which chief executive Steve Fareham argues was 'a reasonable performance in a particularly dire market'. With demand weak and raw material prices rising 20 to 30 per cent — and still showing no signs of imminent easing — Billington disposed of its loss-making 'non-core' businesses, Dosco Overseas Engineering and Hollybank Engineering, and slashed losses from discontinued operations from £2.25 million to £135,000. The company, which pruned staff with redundancies and curbed pay, ended the year with cash 42 per cent lower at £4.9 million, after earnings down by three quarters to 8.3p a share and a similar cut in the proposed dividend to 2.75p a share. Fareham and executive chairman Peter Hems stress Billington held its market share of approximately 3 per cent and took various measures to mitigate the squeeze, such as developing its less cyclically-vulnerable specialist activities and retail markets. But, however tough, last year had some cushioning from contracts fixed in a better environment in 2009, which will not apply in 2011. Even so, Fareham and Hems say the cycle has bottomed and argue company's competitive position is improving, with some weaker brethren quitting the market and a reduction in the frequency of 'suicidal' bids. House broker WH Ireland sees Billington moving into losses this year, before recovering strongly in 2012 and 2013. At 95p, down from a 12-month high of 155p, Billington shares value the company at nearly £14 million and yield 2.9 per cent. They represent a recovery punt for the brave.

NextGen launches cancer biomarker assay 16/03/2011 Ben Jaglom AIM-quoted biotech minnow NextGen Group (NGG) has announced the launch of its first multiple protein assay. The biotech minnow declares its plasmadiscovery41, 'simultaneously measures 41 human plasma proteins that are thought to have potential as biomarkers in cancer'. NextGen argues this launch is part of its strategy of 'becoming a leading player in the growing oncology and central nervous system (CNS) biomarker markets.' Klaus Rosenau, NextGen's German chairman and chief executive officer, enthuses that the release of the assay is a 'defining first step in the development' of its recent reorganisation. He adds it will 'help to establish the company as a market leader in biomarker discovery and qualification.' The shares have gained more than 19 per cent on the launch and currently trade at 0.37p. NextGen's volatile shares were first recommended as a speculative buy by Growth Company Investor in January. We retain that rating.