The Markets The European equity markets suffered as fears grew that divisions between leaders on how to tackle the region's debt crisis will get in the way of a recovery. German Chancellor Angela Merkel remains opposed to a common 'Eurobond' while French President Francois Hollande believes that the Eurozone needs closer unity on economic policies. The UK was hit by news that the economy performed worse than expected in the final three quarters of 2011, contracting by 0.1 percentage points more than previously thought at 0.4%. While performance for the first three months of 2012 was maintained as a 0.3% fall, speculation grew that the economy may well have shrank in the second quarter of the year thanks to the extra bank holiday awarded for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. At the London close the Dow Jones was down by 128.74 points at 12,498.74 and the Nasdaq was down by 38.1 points at 2,837.21.
In London the FTSE 100 slipped by 30.86 points to 5,493.06; the FTSE 250 finished 63.89 points behind at 10,688.29; the FTSE All-Share fell 18.5 points to 2,844.83; and the FTSE AIM Index decreased by 3.54 points to 658.97.  Broker Notes First Columbus Investments retained its "buy" stance and increased its price target on mobile banking specialist Monitise (MONI) by 5p to 50p, believing the acquisition of Clairmail for 173 million dollars enhances its product set and strengthens its presence in the US. The broker commented that the US mobile money market has the greatest potential in the medium term and that this deal makes Monitise the defacto leader in both the UK and the States. With over half of the major UK high street banks and 8 of the top 13 US banks now utilising Monitise's services, First Columbus describes Monitise at a "must hold" for those investors looking for exposure to this market. Monitise shares slipped 1p to 33p. Daniel Stewart maintained its "buy" stance and 230p price target on Talk Talk Group (TALK) on news that on-demand content platform YouView, part-owned by the telecommunications provider, is finally set for commercial launch next week. Daniel Stewart explained its "preferred play on content provision via YouView is through consortium member Talk Talk" following a poor track record for customer complaints from competitors such as BT. The broker also commented the firm has made significant improvements in profitability and cash flow generation based on its "plain vanilla" broadband offering, and on a forward EV/EBITDA multiple of 5.8 times, is undervalued. Talk Talk shares slipped by 0.5p to 189.3p. 
Cannacord Genuity reiterated its "buy" recommendation and 200p price target on troubled media firm Mecom Group (MEC), noting the disposal of its Edda Media newspaper has gone through earlier than expected following approval from the Norwegian Competition Authority. There had been concerns that the purchase of the paper by A-Pressen would be blocked, causing uncertainty for Mecom, particularly following its recent profit warning. The broker added that the shares are trading on a 4.1 times price-to-earnings ratio which represents a discount of 50% to the European newspaper sector. Mecom shares jumped 2.5p to 67p. Blue-Chips The UK banking sector was heavily hit on Thursday as Prime Minister David Cameron said that Barclays (BARC) has "serious questions" to answer on why it manipulated its inter-bank lending rates. The bank was forced to pay 290 million pounds in fines for its actions and it has now been confirmed that several other UK banks will also be investigated. Investors rushed to reduce their exposure to banking stocks, with Barclays shares plummeting by 30.45p to 165.6p, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) shares sliding 26.7p to 206.4p, Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) shares falling 1.25p to 29.95p and HSBC Holdings (HSBA) shares closing 14.8p lower at 558.2p. BG Group (BG.) and its partners in the Karachaganak gas-condensate field have completed a deal with the Republic of Kazakhstan in which the state will acquire a 10% interest in the field for 3 billion dollars. The deal has seen BG's interest in the field fall from 32.5% to 29.25%, but will provide a range of benefits to BG and its partners including the allocation of an additional two million tonnes per year capacity in the Caspian Consortium export pipeline for the life of the field as well as exemption from export custom duties for 26 years. BG shares inched 5.5p higher to 1,261.5p. Meanwhile water services company Severn Trent (SVT) announced it had entered into a joint-venture with Costain Group (COST) to provide water and wastewater management services to high volume commercial and industrial water users. The new entity, Severn Trent Costain, will utilise the skills and knowledge of both companies' workforce to create a single expert supplier for all their water requirements from source to disposal. Severn Trent shares rose by 22p to 1,645p while Costain shares crept 2p higher to 210p.  Another firm to announce its participation in a joint-venture on Thursday was Rolls Royce (RR.) which unveiled that electronics, chemicals and telecommunications conglomerate, LG has invested 45 million dollars to acquire a 51% shareholding in US subsidiary Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems. The business, to be renamed LG Fuel Cell Systems will continue to fund the research, development, testing and commercialisation of solid oxide fuel cell technology aimed at large-scale power generation for the industrial and commercial markets. The company's shares slipped 5p to 842p. Mid-Caps Debenhams (DEB) continued to defy the trend of the high-street by posting a 3,9% climb in sales and 3% climb in like-for-like sales for the 16 weeks to 23rd of June. The news suggests there has been a substantial improvement in the firm's performance since the six months to 3rd March when both these growth rates stood at 1.4%. The group says it achieved sales growth by ensuring that its customers' need were met, particularly around key events when footfall was highest such as Mother's Day and the Diamond Jubilee. Debenhams added its online sales grew by 34.9% during the period and the firm is now the eleventh biggest online retailer in the UK by traffic volume. Debenhams shares climbed 1.7p to 84.95p. Shares in Ladbrokes (LAD) took a hit, dropping by 21.1p to 152.7. The online and high-street betting firm admitted that the decline in digital profits it had forecast for 2012 had been exacerbated by a poor sportsbook margin in the second quarter of the year and delays in the delivery of technology products. As a result, profits from this channel for the six months to June are expected to be around half of that posted for the first half of 2011. Food sales growth of 17% aided pub chain Greene King (GNK) to report a 9.4% climb in revenue to 1.14 billion pounds for the year to 29th April. Pre-tax profits meanwhile climbed 8.6% to 152 million pounds as average EBITDA per pub rose above 200,000 pounds for the first time. The firm said the integration of The Capital Pub Company was on track, with 39 sites added to its portfolio, with a number of attractive sites in the pipeline. Greene King shares rose 4.5p to 536p.  Small Caps, AIM and PLUS NBNK Investments (NBNK) shares collapsed by 42.5p to 47.5p upon the company's readmission to trading on AIM. The firm admitted it was unable to find a way to reach an agreement with Lloyds Banking Group over the acquisition of the Verde asset package. The shares were suspended in last September under AIM regulations as the potential deal constituted a reverse takeover. NBNK's directors have concluded that there are no other UK banking assets available for sale that would meet the company's objectives and thus they expect to commence steps to wind up the firm. It is envisaged that the cash returned to shareholders will be just under 40% of the initial capital invested. Shares in O Twelve Estates (OTE) jumped 0.5p to 6.75p on news of a 7p a share cash offer from VIII Investment UK, valuing the property investment firm at 33.6 million pounds. The offer, which represents a premium of 75% on the share price on 15th June, which was the last business day before O Twelve admitted it was in discussions over a takeover with VIII, is for the remaining 22.94% shares that VIII does not already hold. Nature technology business TyraTech (TYR) issued some significantly improved results for the year to December 2011, which showed a more than halving in pre-tax losses to 2.7 million dollars on the back of a 56% rise in revenue to 7.2 million dollars. The group attributed its performance to product development advances throughout 2011, which saw it delivery four new products to pest-control company Terminix. The period also saw Tyratech gain registration approval for its aerosol insecticides in Germany and France, with approval in the UK pending. TyraTech shares climbed 0.25p to 3.5p. 
Flow testing at Solo Oil's (SOLO) Ntotya-1 well in the Ruvuma Basin onshore Tanzania generated a flow of 20.1 million cubic feet per day, equivalent to 3,350 barrels of oil per day, the company confirmed. The successful testing will now be following up by acquiring further seismic data in order to gain a fuller understanding of the full extent of the discovery. a programme. Executive director Neil Ritson commented that the discovery provides "provides further encouragement that oil may be discovered in the onshore basin". Solo shares rose 0.025p to 0.475p. Shares in PLUS-quoted Sorbic International (SO.P) fell by 2p to a mid-price of 7.5p as it admitted the completion date of its new sorbates manufacturing facility in Inner Mongolia remains subject to uncertainty. The final installation stage of the facility did not resume in May 2012 as originally scheduled as it received notification from the local government that the industrial zone in which it is situated may be rezoned as a city zone for urban planning. The company was quick however to emphasise that the fundamentals of the company were robust as revenue for the six months to March climbed 20.4% to 8.3 million pounds. | 
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