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Finsbury Food Group Plc (FIF.L) Announced, in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 27 December 2014, that revenue from continuing operations rose to £107.57 million from £86.64 million reported in the same period a year ago. Its results from operating activities were £4.51 million, compared with £2.60 million in the corresponding period of last year. Its profit before tax was £4.06 million, compared with £2.08 million reported in the same period a year ago. Its adjusted diluted EPS was up 78% to 3.2p (H1 2013: 1.8p per share). The company declared an interim dividend per share of 0.83p (H1 2013: 0.25p per share).

Dairy Crest Group Plc (DCG.L) Announced that it had agreed to sell the assets of its Dairies operations to Müller UK & Ireland Group ("Müller"). The transaction is conditional on the approval of the relevant competition authorities and following constructive talks with the European Commission, it has now been referred back to the UK for review by the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA"). The company further stated that the transaction remains on track and, as previously announced, has received the approval of the company’s shareholders.

Clean Air Power Ltd (CAP.L) Announced that it has been awarded an additional one year extension to its 2-year funded research project with Brunel University London, aimed at developing the next generation of advanced Dual-Fuel combustion systems. The research grant extension has been awarded by the UK Government's Innovate UK organisation through its Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme. The additional funding will enable further investigation and optimisation of Clean Air Power's second generation MicroPilot technology on heavy duty Dual-Fuel engines operating in advanced low-emission combustion modes. The project is to be carried out on a modern heavy-duty research engine at Brunel University's Centre for Advanced Powertrains and Fuels. Brunel is one of the UK's leading universities with a world-class reputation in applied research and cooperation with industrial partners on internal combustion engines and their fuels. Chief Executive John Pettitt said "The award of the project extension by Innovate UK is further evidence of the UK Government's continuing support for low carbon vehicle technologies. The research carried out at Brunel University is improving our understanding of advanced diesel-gas combustion mechanisms and helping to pioneer the next generation of MicroPilot Dual-Fuel technology."

Firstgroup has made a deal with the Department for Transport to operate the First Great Western rail franchise until 1 April, 2019. The deal could be extended an extra year if the department sees fit and will involve the largest fleet upgrade seen on that route in a generation

E.ON joins North Sea exodus: German energy giant E.ON is said to be the latest major company to be pulling out of the North Sea, with plans to sell £1 billion of assets despite the package of support measures for the oil and gas outlined in last week’s Budget.

Fizz expected from AG Barr: Construction group Balfour Beatty is expected to swing to a loss on Wednesday after a year in which it issued four profit warnings.

Associated British Ports embroiled in bidding war as buyers race to buy a stake: Three bidders are racing to buy a 33% stake in Associated British Ports which is being auctioned by Goldman Sachs and Prudential for £1.2 billion.

Shell oil drilling in Arctic set to get U.S. government permission: The U.S. government is expected this week to give the go-ahead to a controversial plan by Shell to restart drilling for oil in the Arctic.

Opec is prepared to wait out the slump in oil prices: Opec will not take sole responsibility for propping up the oil price, Saudi Arabia’s oil Minister said on Sunday, signalling the world’s top petroleum exporter is determined to ride out a market slump that has roughly halved prices since last June.

Auto Trader: deals on wheels: For Auto Trader, the U.K.’s top online advertiser for used vehicles that should mean more business. Its shares, which debuted on the London market on Thursday, were well received, jumping 9% above the IPO price of 235p. The dip in new car sales after the financial crisis held back the supply of used cars. Sales of the latter collapsed over a 10th between 2006 and 2012. Last year sales ramped up nearly 3%, however. Pendragon, the U.K. car dealer, expects the trend to continue. Already, Auto Trader’s operating profits in the nine months to December have grown by a quarter from a year earlier. Not that new car sales have halted. Low finance rates means more people buy new cars in the U.K. with monthly payments via leasing schemes, handing the car back at the end of the period, usually three years. Eventually the added supply from these leased vehicles will weigh on prices, but probably not for another year at least, thinks the used car auction group Manheim. Auto Trader has most of the road to itself. But it will have to keep its pedal to the metal to stay ahead.

CityFibre raises concern about impact of BT-EE merger: CityFibre, the U.K.-listed fibre telecoms group, has complained to the British antitrust watchdog about the potential impact of BT’s acquisition of EE on the U.K. broadband market.

UK public sector net borrowing reported a surplus in February The public sector net borrowing in the UK has posted a surplus of £6.20 billion in February, from a revised deficit of £8.90 billion in the prior month. Market anticipations were for public sector net borrowing to announce a surplus of £7.70 billion. UK public sector net borrowing posted a surplus in February In the UK, the public sector net borrowing (excluding temporary effects of financial interventions) has reported a surplus of £6.90 billion in February, from a revised deficit of £8.30 billion in the prior month. Markets were expecting public sector net borrowing to post a surplus of £8.40 billion.

At 0430GMT today, Brent crude oil one month futures contract is trading 0.89% or $0.49 lower at $54.83 per barrel. On Friday, the contract climbed 1.64% or $0.89, to settle at $55.32 per barrel, amid a weak US Dollar and after data indicated that the number of US rigs actively drilling for oil fell for the 15th consecutive week, declining to 825 rigs in the week ended March 20.

U.S. fracking rules seek shale boom balance: The Obama administration has taken its biggest step yet to regulate fracking on federal land by imposing new environmental safeguards on the technique that has turned America into a shale energy superpower and upturned global energy markets.

Souter and upturn put developer AMA back in black: AMA, the high-end Edinburgh property developer backed by Sir Brian Souter as part of a £45 million restructuring three months ago, has seen a dramatic improvement in its fortunes on the back of the improving economy and greater availability of mortgages

Oil & Gas Innovation Centre recruits Chief operating officer: The Oil & Gas Innovation Centre has appointed sector veteran Ernie Lamza as its Chief Operating Officer.

Oil investment company Highlands Natural Resources to join London stock market as it plans to tap into bargain oil reservoir: Oil investment company Highlands Natural Resources will join the main London stock market this week with a plan to snap up bargain-price oil wells.

Buy engineer Smiths for long term: Smiths Group is an unfashionable stock that persists with an outdated business model, but that’s exactly why Questor thinks the shares are worth a closer look. Conglomerates like Smiths do not enjoy the highs in the good times, because the different industries it is involved in don’t all perform well at the same time. However, they don’t all suffer such sharp falls in the bad times, either. The engineer said it had made £131 million in profits from revenues of £1.42 billion during the six months to the end of January. That result for the first half of its financial year was largely flat on the same period in 2013, while the performance across the business was mixed. Overall trading was varied, but cash generation improved as Smiths looks to cut £60 million from its costs by 2017. Some investors these days seemingly eschew companies that have a long track record of manufacturing products, and instead prefer to pour billions into technology companies which are run by a few people and which can’t even make a profit. However, Questor is more than happy backing shares in a reasonably-priced engineering company that makes something, generates a profit, and pays a dividend that yields 3.6%. Smiths Group at £12.06+6p. Questor Says ‘Buy’.

Sell Next as guidance lowered: Shares in Next are still trading as though the company is growing rapidly, despite results which showed that isn’t happening anymore. Lord Wolfson, Chief Executive, said that although the economy looks benign he remained cautious on sales in the year ahead. He now expects a pretax profit of between £785 million and £835 million this year, representing growth of between 0.4% and 6.7%. The Next Directory business is slowing down, which is a problem as it is the most profitable and, until recently, the fastest-growing part of the group. The retail business is performing better, with sales increasing by 5% and profits by 10% in the year to January. Next shares, at £73.15, are currently trading on 17 times the forecast 434p in earnings per share. That is admittedly 5% up on our previous forecast but too expensive for a company growing profits at an estimated 3.5% in the year ahead. A target price of £55 looks reasonable. Next at £73.15-305p. Questor Says ‘Sell’.

Premier Farnell a buy on European recovery: Premier Farnell, which distributes electronic components around the world, should benefit from the boost to the European economy from the quantitative easing programme announced in January. That leaves the shares looking too cheap. Premier Farnell reported its annual results last week. Sales in total were weak and down by 0.8% to £960 million overall, while pretax profits fell by 7.6% to £69.1 million to the end of December. What’s more, Premier Farnell said that cost cuts in the year ahead would be around £3 million to £4 million and double next year. The shares remain attractive because the company still generates plenty of cash and maintained its 10.4p dividend, going ex-dividend on May 26 and payable on June 25. The interesting element with Premier Farnell shares will be if quantitative easing gives the European economy a boost and for that reason we rate them a buy.