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The Markets The Federal Reserve, chaired by Ben Bernanke, announced plans to pump a further 40 billion dollars (24.7 billion pounds) per month into the ailing US economy, by purchasing mortgage backed securities. However, some have argued that this third round of quantitative easing will not be enough and speculation has already begun as to when the central bank will increase the amount. The Fed also cut its growth forecasts for the year from 2.4% to 2%, but has hopes that the economy will grow by around 3% in 2013. Meanwhile, fears that Spain may need a bailout package were heightened after the Bank of Spain said that public debt rose by 300 basis points, quarter-on-quarter to 75.9% of GDP. The country's fiscal problems have been exacerbated by a number of its regions requesting bailouts from the fund set up by the central government. At the London close the Dow Jones was up by 63.80 points at 13,603.66 and the Nasdaq was up by 28.30 points at 2,859.65. In London the FTSE 100 rose by 95.63 points to 5,915.55; the FTSE 250 finished 269.59 points ahead at 12,116.12; the FTSE All-Share gained 44.75 points to 3,081.24; and the FTSE AIM Index climbed by 12.02 points to 710.36. 
Broker Notes N+1 Brewin reiterated its "buy" recommendation for Goals Soccer Centres (GOAL) with a 155p target price. The broker expects the 5-a-side football company's successful VAT appeal to enhance earnings per share by around 10% over the next three years. Brewin said there may be some lurking disappointment over the failed takeover bid by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, but maintained that the 144p per share offer undervalued the business. On the broker's forecasts, the shares trade on a prospective multiple of 8.8 times for 2012, falling to 8 times in 2013. The shares were unchanged at 122.5p.  Panmure Gordon maintained its "buy" rating for Imperial Tobacco (IMT) with a target price of 2,900p. The cigarette company will issue a pre-close trading statement on 21st September, and the broker forecasts a 2% decline in stick equivalent volumes, offset by price increases. Panmure noted that the shares have fallen by around 8% since August, putting them on a 20% discount to peers on an earnings basis. The broker added that the stock offers a dividend yield of 4.3%. Shares in Imperial Tobacco slipped by 1p to 2,300p. WH Ireland retained its "buy" stance on Marston's (MARS), with a 130p target price. The pub chain achieved like-for-like sales growth of 3.6% in the half year ended 31st March, which the broker attributed to increased volumes, rather than prices. WH Ireland noted that the company plans to build between 20 and 25 pub restaurants per year and switch its business model to focus more on franchising agreements rather than management. The broker added that the firm may benefit from supplying locally brewed beers, which have tax advantages for brewing in small quantities. The shares advanced by 1.5p to 115.1p. Blue-Chips Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) announced its plan to float the Direct Line Insurance Group business on the London Stock Exchange, with 25% of the equity up for grabs in the initial public offering. Under the requirements imposed on the bank as part of its bailout by the government, it will have to relinquish control of Direct Line by the end of 2013 and sell its entire holding by the end of 2014. It is estimated that Direct Line will have a market capitalisation of around 3 billion pounds on listing. The shares grew by 5.1p to 279p. 
Direct Line will become independent of RBS by the end of 2013 
Hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) said that it will issue a special dividend of 1.72 dollars (108.4p) per share in October, as it looks to return 1 billion dollars (0.6 billion pounds) to shareholders. In addition, the firm plans to perform a share consolidation, replacing every 15 existing shares with 14 new ones, and commence a 500 million dollar (308.7 million pound) share buyback scheme. Shares in InterContinental Hotels rose by 23p to 1,642p. Mid-Caps JD Wetherspoon (JDW) announced adjusted pre-tax profits of 72.4 million pounds for the 53 weeks ended 29th July 2012, up from 66.8 million pounds in the 52 weeks ended 24th July 2011. Since the year end, the pub chain noted that the Olympic games contributed strongly in the six weeks to 9th September 2012, with sales up 12.8% during the period. Meanwhile, the group once again voiced its anger at the government for the VAT gap between supermarkets and pubs, noting that the pub industry has lost around 50% of its beer sales over the last 30 years as a result. Shares in JD Wetherspoon swelled by 15.1p to 475.7p. 
In order to strengthen its position in central and eastern Europe, packaging group Mondi (MNDI) has agreed to buy the German and Czech operations of peer Duropack for a cash consideration of 125 million euros (100.5 million pounds). The targets, which consist of two corrugated box plants and a recycled containerboard mill, reported revenues of 160 million euros (128.7 million pounds) for the year ended 31st December, with adjusted EBITDA of 23 million euros (18.5 million pounds). The shares rose by 29.5p to 631p. Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) reported that sales in the ten months ended 31st August were 1% higher than in 2011's comparable period, at constant exchange rates. The increase was driven by the fluids division, which saw revenue growth of 5%, while equipment revenues declined by 2%. The group noted continued weak trading in Europe, with clients deferring replacement orders, but has hopes that this will be compensated for by growth in India and North America. Shares in Domino Printing declined by 16p to 554.5p. Small Caps, AIM and PLUS Shares in 2ergo Group (RGO) collapsed by 14p to 24.5p after it announced a placing to raise 2.2 million pounds at an issue price of 10p per share, a hefty 74% discount to the closing price on Thursday 13th September. It should be noted that three of the mobile advertising agency's directors will receive a combined 7 million new shares, 12.2% of the enlarged share capital. The proceeds will be used to provide working capital and allow it to roll out its podifi and TikTap contactless technology. MobilityOne (MBO) reported revenues of 20.3 million pounds for the six months ended 30th June, up 40.8% year-on-year, achieving a pre-tax profit of 44,716 pounds, up from a loss of 61,128 pounds. The Asia focused electronic payment company is confident that it will see further organic revenue growth in the second half as it continues its expansion into the Philippines. The shares leapt by 0.625p to 3.5p. Property developer Songbird Estates (SBD) said that it will receive a 62.1 million pound dividend from its partially owned Canary Wharf Group subsidiary, following a period of strong renewal rates at the East London office development. The company also noted that its net asset value increased to 1.73 billion pounds as at 30th June, from 1.65 billion pounds as at 31st December 2011. The firm added that it had reduced the coupon payments on its preferred stock to lower financing risk. Songbird shares ascended 9p to 115p. 
Immunodiagnostic Systems (IDH) announced a 12.3% fall in revenues for the five months ended 31st August to 19.9 million pounds, as 15% growth from its IDS-iSYS system was counteracted by a 19% decline in sales of manual diagnostic testing kits. The firm was also impacted by adverse exchange rate movements, and expects this trend to continue for the rest of the year. The group now forecasts revenues for the year ending 31st March 2013 of between 48 and 50 million pounds. The shares fell by 29p to 251p. Music production and publisher Papa Entertainment (PAPP) was admitted to trading on the PLUS market, raising no additional funds. The firm was founded on 12th May 2011 as an investment vehicle and bought Mission Entertainment Group on 24th July 2012. The company's contracted artists include Demi Holborn, who won GMTV's "Totstars" and Gianluca Paganelli who won the Italian equivalent of "Britain's Got Talent". The shares closed at 4.5p. Brightside Group (BRT) reported pre-tax profit growth of 14% to 8.2 million pounds for the half year ended 30th June, on revenue growth of 10% to 43.6 million pounds, leading it to introduce a maiden interim dividend of 0.22p per share. Since the end of the period, the insurance broker launched white labeled Asda Money and Debenhams insurance products, with an initial 2,300 sales in July and August. However, it noted that the full impact of these partnerships will not materialise for at least 12 months. Brightside shares advanced by 0.5p to 22p. | 
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