| From UK-Analyst.com: Thursday 28th March 2013
IMPORTANT: Are your UK-Analyst emails being delayed? Add UK-Analyst@news.t1ps.com to your safe senders/contact list to help resolve the problem The Markets At the London close the Dow Jones was up by 52.38 points at 14,578.54 and the Nasdaq was up by 8.71 at 2,818.69. In London the FTSE 100 closed up by 24.18 points at 6,411.74; the FTSE 250 finished 60.68 points higher at 13,923.04; the FTSE All-Share gained 13.31 points to 3,380.64; and the FTSE AIM Index rose by 2.80 points to 731.11. 
Blue-Chips Shares in sugar producer Tate & Lyle (TATE) finished 25p ahead at 850p after the firm announced that it has continued to perform in line with expectations since February. In the Speciality Food Ingredients business, " solid sales growth" is expected for the full year, with the volume growth rate in the second half slightly ahead of the first half. In Bulk Ingredients, a good underlying performance from sweeteners in both the US and Europe is expected to more than offset the impact of costs associated with handling higher levels of aflatoxin 2 (a fungus impacting corn) following severe drought in the US and continued challenging market conditions in US ethanol. Broker Shore Capital has a "hold" stance on the shares, saying that it struggles to see upside ahead of greater evidence on delivery of a sustained acceleration in Speciality Food growth. Power infrastructure giant National Grid (NG.) saw its shares close up by 14p at 765p after it announced that its dividend will rise at least in line with the rate of RPI inflation each year for the foreseeable future. The firm also revealed that the 2012/13 financial year is finishing well, with earnings forecast to be modestly ahead of previous expectations. This is due to a strong UK Transmission business performance and lower net finance costs. Earnings are also expected to benefit from a lower effective tax rate. Speciality chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (JMAT) has completed the purchase of Formox AB for 1.05 billion Swedish Krona (107 million pounds) in cash from Perstorp Specialty Chemicals. The acquired company is a provider of catalysts, plant designs and licences for the manufacture of the chemical intermediate formaldehyde. In 2012 the business made sales of SEK 492 million (50.1 million pounds) and adjusted EBITDA of SEK 124 million (12.6 million pounds). It employs around 90 people and has manufacturing, R&D, engineering and sales facilities in Sweden, along with sales offices in the USA, Singapore and China. The shares gained 50p to 2,300p. Mid Caps Shares in Electrocomponents (ECM) added 4.8p to 251p after the distributor of electronics and maintenance products said that final quarter underlying sales growth is expected to be around 1%. Headline pre-tax profits are expected to be in line with market expectations for the full year (consensus of 98 million pounds), these benefitting from actions to improve the gross margin and to control operating costs. Despite the update broker Panmure Gordon has a "sell" stance and 175p target price for the shares, arguing that concerns about the global industrial outlook could have a negative impact on margins. In a trading statement for the 11 months to February the London Stock Exchange (LSE) said it is upbeat about a resurgence in the London IPO market going into the rest of 2013. While total equity capital raised on the markets for the period was only 14.8 billion pounds, down from 32.4 billion in 2012, with 107 new issues down from 144, issuance was strong in the third quarter and there is "an encouraging pipeline" of new issues for the new financial year. Elsewhere, the exchange saw average daily UK equity value down by 15% for the period and Italian average daily volumes down by 14%. The shares lost 19p to 1,306p. QinetiQ (QQ.), the aerospace, defence and security firm, expects to meet forecasts for the financial year ending 31st March 2013. The UK Services division continues to perform well, benefiting from a more competitive cost base, better project execution and improved alignment with customer needs. However, in the US, market conditions remain challenging with order flow and visibility much lower than usual as customers defer decisions due to continued budget uncertainty. As a result, management is managing its cost base, focused on cutting property and infrastructure costs, as well as reducing management layers mainly in the US Services business. This will result in an exceptional charge of around $25 million being booked for this financial year. The shares added 1.4p to 207.4p.
Small Caps & AIM Shares in iodine extractor Iofina (IOF) flowed 2p higher to 187p after the firm revealed that its water application permit has been received by the Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation. The company applied for a maximum flow rate of 1,500 Cubic Feet Per Second (cfs) and a maximum water marketing volume of 10,000 Acre-Foot (ac-ft) from the Missouri river in Roosevelt County Montana. This equates to c.200,000 barrels per day for the purpose of industrial use. Meanwhile, the company has secured the sites for the outtake water depot, multiple truck distribution terminals and potential waste water disposal sites in Montana. These terminals will have the ability to fill and receive multiple trucks simultaneously. Iofina also anticipates filing a similar application in the state of North Dakota "in short order". The project represents an interesting sideline to the upside case for the company given that water is currently selling for $1 per barrel.
Baobab Resources (BAO) unveiled positive results from a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) completed on its 85%-owned flagship Tete pig iron project in Mozambique. The PFS outlined a 37-year 1Mtpa (million tonne per annum) pig iron operation based on open-pit mining 21.3% of the Tenge-Ruoni resource. Initial capex was estimated at $1.14 billion. Assuming pig iron prices of $450 per tonne, the net present value using a 10% discount rate is $1.26 billion. Notably, Baobab did not include post-tax figures as the company is to enter negotiations with the Mozambican government on project tax structure. It is believed that there have been unofficial indications that favourable investment incentives might be granted, which broker Shore Capital expects would be along similar lines to that enjoyed by Kenmare's Moma mineral sands project and BHP's Mozal aluminium smelter (which pay turnover tax of just 1% and are exempt from other taxes). Baobab shares tumbled by 4.625p to 21p as recent profit-taking continued.
Shares in security services provider Westminster Group (WSG) rose by 1.5p to 37.75p after it unveiled a restructuring of its businesses into two new divisions. The company said a managed services division and technology division have been established so it can focus on its growing international opportunities. The managed services division will look after long-term managed services contracts such as security in airports and ports, while the technology division will focus on providing technology-led security services - including surveillance, detection, tracking and interception technologies - to the security, defence, fire protection and safety markets. As part of the restructuring, the firm is also disposing of its two UK focused subsidiaries, RMS Integrated Systems, including CTAC and International Monitoring Services Ltd, via a management buyout.
Ubisense (UBI), the location based smart technology provider, announced a deal with a large US steel manufacturer for its Ubisense Smart Factory System for process tracking around the firm's steel manufacturing plant. The system provides visibility of the industrial process at critical process steps such as weighing stations and discharge. Any temperature, quality or weight distribution problems can be identified in real-time, thus allowing operators to be alerted and corrective action to be taken in a safe and timely fashion. Ubisense Smart Factory systems are widely used in automotive and aerospace manufacturing, and can be applied to any manufacturing activity where precise, reliable location can be used to provide production process visibility and control. Ubisense shares finished flat at 202p. | 
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