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A.G. BARR Plc (BAG.L) Announced, in its final results for the 12 months to 25 January 2015, that revenue increased to £260.90 million from £254.09 million recorded in the preceding year. Its operating profit was £38.85 million, compared with £34.68 million in the previous year. Its profit before tax was £38.63 million, compared with £34.29 million recorded in the prior year. Its basic EPS stood at 26.00p, compared with 24.43p posted in the last year. The directors have proposed a final dividend in respect of the year ended 25 January 2015 of 9.01p/share, payable on 5 June 2015.

2Market Information, Inc. is the world's leading provider of resources for technology transfer professionals. 2Market Information, Inc. owns and operates Tech Transfer Central, the home to leading publications, including Tech Transfer eNews, Technology Transfer Tactics and Tech Transfer University Reporter. Readership includes more than 150,000 decision makers in universities, labs, research facilities, law firms, investment and consulting firms, tech incubators, government agencies, corporations and other entities that have a stake in tech transfer or research commercialization. In essence; the prospects of commercialising any one of the technologies bought by TEKcapital in the coming months is now greater as a result of today's strategic tie-up since 2Market Information has direct links with the decision makers who commercialise technology transfers.

Land Securities sold its 95% stake in Times Square to real estate funds managed by Blackstone for £268.4m. The contract will reach completion in July and encompasses an office building currently let to six office tenants including Bank of New York Mellon and law firm Dechert until 2023.

Builders and plumbers merchant Wolseley said it is on track for the full year after a double-digit increase in underlying profits in the first half, helped by record trading margins in the States and strong growth in e-commerce. Adjusted trading profits rose 11.1% year-on-year to £390m in the six months to 31 January. However, reported pre-tax profit sank 67% to £103m after a £245m impairment relating to acquired intangibles in the Nordics arising from the acquisition of DT Group back in 2006.

Asco secures contract with BP in North Sea: Oilfield services company Asco, a major North Sea employer, announced a £100 million-plus contract to support BP’s North Sea operations over the next five years.

Frozen cakes help double profits at Finsbury Food Group: Baker Finsbury Food said a new acquisition had helped it almost double half year profits despite a “challenging” period in the grocery sector amid the supermarket price war.

Average home set ‘to have £10,000 debt’, says new report: The average U.K. household is set to owe close to £10,000 in debts such as personal loans, credit cards and overdrafts by the end of 2016 - a new high in cash terms, a new report claims.

The pound takes a tumble on fears over economic slowdown as the U.K. heads towards deflation and a general election: Investors have sold off the pound again amid fears that the U.K. economy is slowing ahead of the upcoming General Election in May and on the prospect of deflation taking hold in the world’s sixth largest economy

Fever-Tree toasts buoyant 2014 with sales and profits rising as company strengthens market share: The drinks firm, which raised around £4 million when it floated on the London Stock Exchange’s junior AIM market at the end of last year, reported annual revenues of £34.7 million, up 49% from £23.3 million a year earlier.

Diageo announces raft of new products backed by £10 million marketing budget: The maker of Smirnoff Vodka and Guinness opened the doors to its innovation centre as it announced a raft of new products backed by a £10 million marketing budget.

Gear up and get some more Halfords shares: Jeremy Clarkson once described a tricked-up Subaru Impreza as looking like it “had crashed into Halfords’ front window”. In its third quarter update, the company reported revenue rose almost 7%, with cycling doing well despite tough comparatives. The company announced on Monday that his replacement will be Jill McDonald, the current U.K. and north-west Europe Boss of fast-food giant McDonald’s. Analysts were of a similar mindset to Questor. Investec flagged up Ms McDonald – formerly of British Airways and Palmolive – for her “strong brand marketing and customer service background [which] looks a good match for Halfords”, while Barclays expects her to “focus on colleagues and customers” and “tweak” Mr Davies’ successful strategy. Questor last looked at Halfords in July and rated it as a buy when the shares were at 478p. The shares were pretty flat in reaction to the announcement, and with them trading on a price-earnings ratio of 14.35 this year, falling to 13.3 next, and currently yielding 3.5%, and 3.8% in 2016, Questor sees no reason to change that, with the current share price looking an opportunity to load up. Halfords at 62.4p +8.65p. Questor Says “Buy”.

In for the Skrill: “Skrill” is street slang for money, supposedly. Now, the electronic wallet company of the same name is to be taken over by its rival Optimal in a deal labelled “transformative” in the equally obscure chatter of the City. But what might the £800 million transaction transform Aim-quoted Optimal into? A much bigger company, for a start. Both businesses produced earnings before nasties of just under $90 million last year. Put them together, and you have a business worthy of elevation to the FTSE 250 index. Optimal would then have an enterprise value of well over £1 billion. It would still be a tiddler compared with PayPal, the internet’s dominant payments group. However, Optimal would expand its niche of providing ewallets to gamblers, who like shuffling their stake money between different online gaming sites. To help fund the deal, Optimal is mounting a rights issue to raise £451 million. The discount to the price of its shares before they were suspended is a hefty 34% to the “theoretical ex-rights price”. This is City geek speak for the Ownership of company cash flows that shareholders give up if they do not stump up for rights.

RSA’s Hester awarded two-thirds of bonus despite missing targets: Stephen Hester, Chief Executive of RSA, has been awarded two-thirds of his potential annual bonus even though the FTSE 100 insurer missed financial performance targets.

Easier account switching could fuel bank runs, says BBA: Banks have warned that they are more vulnerable to a run on deposits now that digital systems allow customers to move large sums or switch their account to a different lender at the touch of a button.

Tax cut pushes North Sea oilfield deals back on stream: Deals for North Sea oilfields — which have been held back by the plummeting price of Brent crude — could soon come back on stream, as a new tax cut helps to draw in private equity investors.

Purplebricks to put its own house up for sale: The online estate agent Purplebricks – whose high-profile backers include the former Capita Boss Paul Pindar and Wonga’s Founder Errol Damelin – has appointed Canaccord Genuity to oversee a looming float.

McDonald’s U.K. Boss Jill McDonald to take the wheel at Halfords: Halfords has appointed McDonald’s U.K. Boss Jill McDonald as the new Chief Executive of the bike to car parts business.

At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.7% or $0.39 lower at $55.53 per barrel, ahead of the American Petroleum Institute weekly oil inventory data to be released later today. Yesterday, the contract climbed 1.08% or $0.60, to settle at $55.92 per barrel, paring earlier losses triggered by comments from Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi over the weekend, who stated that the nation would not cut oil production unless other non-OPEC members did.

Rents rise at fastest pace since 2013 Average rent across England & Wales rose by 3.1% year-on-year in February, the greatest annual increase seen since May 2013, figures from the latest Buy-to-Let Index have revealed. On a monthly basis, rents rose by 0.4%, following a series of monthly drops. In real terms, average rents now stand at £766pm, up from £763 in January and £743 in February last year. The East of England saw the sharpest annual growth rate, with rents rising by 10.2% in the 12-month period, the strongest growth of any region in over five years. Only two regions saw annual falls. The overall increase was largely driven by a lack of supply of affordable homes, which is pushing more people into the rental sector, said Adrian Gill of Reeds Rains and Your Move. "A serious and substantial commitment to new builds is the only way to bring supply in line with demand," he added.

Optimal Payments Plc (OPAY.L) Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2014, that its revenue rose to $274.712 million, as compared to $193.033 million reported in the same period a year ago. The company’s profit before tax stood at $58.978 million as compared to $32.713 million posted last year. The company’s basic earnings per share stood at $0.36, as compared to $0.22 reported in the same period a year ago. The company has separately announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Sentinel Topco Limited and its subsidiaries ("Skrill" or "Skrill Group" from Sentinel Group Holdings S.A., ultimately owned by funds managed and advised by subsidiaries of CVC Capital Partners SICAV-FIS S.A., Investcorp Technology Partners, and other shareholders, for an enterprise value of approximately €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) (the "Acquisition". The Skrill Group is one of Europe's leading digital payments businesses providing digital wallet solutions and online payment processing capabilities and is one of the largest pre-paid online voucher providers in Europe with its paysafecard brand.