| From UK-Analyst.com: Friday 23rd August 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 Competition The UK-Analyst Friday Competition is back! For your chance to win a "Love Your Gut Pack" worth £50, from our friends at Yakult, send your funniest caption for the picture below to richard.gill@t1ps.com by 9am on Tuesday morning. 
Gut Week is an initiative of Love Your Gut, the digestive health campaign organised annually by Core and the IBS Network in association with Yakult UK Limited. Gut Week takes place every summer but the Love Your Gut site is available all year round, providing a permanent digestive health resource. The pack contains: a water bottle, gym bag, sports towel, skipping rope (that counts your jumps and measures burnt calories), baseball cap and pedometer along with a range of "Love Your Gut" goodies. 
The Markets The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has upgraded its UK GDP growth figure for the April-June quarter from 0.6% to 0.7%, putting extra shine on an increasingly promising economic picture for the UK. The new data showed that export demand drove the upwardly revised figure, which was a culmination of a higher than initially estimated increase in production across several different industries. Although the news will be well received by economists, the ONS was keen to stress that this rate of economic growth is still well under the rate which has been exhibited in the aftermath of previous recessions. Nancy Curtin of asset managers Close Brothers, commented, "Barely months after the threat of a triple dip, a series of good economic results for the UK means business and consumer confidence is climbing." In a story that broke late yesterday, it has emerged that 7 million people could be slam dunk in-line to receive hundreds of pounds in compensation after British insurer seller CPP (CPP) and 13 high street banks mis-sold credit card insurance policies. With 10 billion pounds paid out already by British banks over the mis-selling of payment protection insurance and interest rate swaps, this latest news piles further embarrassment on a banking sector which has long been the subject of much public frustration. A statement from the Financial Conduct Authority read " The involvement of the banks and credit card issuers reflects the fact that they introduced customers to CPP's products and so must share responsibility for putting things right." ADVERTISEMENT 
Fracking - fear or the future? Click here to download your complimentary report now. Losses can exceed deposits At the London close the Dow Jones was down by 0.07 points at 14,963.67 and the Nasdaq grew by 15.00 points to 3,116.82. In London the FTSE 100 was up by 45.23 points at 6,492.10 and the FTSE 250 increased by 99.51 points to 14,953.10. The FTSE All-Share was up by 23.72 points at 3,456.95 while the FTSE AIM Index grew by 1.94 points to 752.55. Broker Notes N+1 Singer stuck with its "buy" stance on carpet retailer Carpetright (CPR) with a target price of 710p. The broker feels that the business is improving at a time when housing market conditions are also improving. Moreover, N+1 Singer feels that product initiatives should also bring benefits, as it increases its presence in both the flooring and bed markets, aided by increased marketing efforts. The shares were down by 5.5p at 665p. Shore Capital maintained its "buy" recommendation on pharmaceutical group Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) on the back of the divestment of the group's services businesses. The broker feels this move gives Dechra immediate margin transformation, a much improved growth profile, increased management focus on core business as well as the potential for accelerated product acquisitions from the proceeds. The shares swelled by 23.5p to 708p. Cantor Fitzgerald stuck with its "buy" stance on clean technology firm Clean Air Power (CAP) with a target price of 19p. The broker notes that the company raised new money at a price of 9.625p - a 10.1% premium to the average share price over the last 30 days - and feels this is a good step forward for the company. Furthermore, Cantor feels that Clean Air Power has an attractive technology with significant growth potential, leaving it well positioned to take advantage of the growing, gas powered, vehicle markets worldwide. The shares powered upwards by 3p to 12.25p. 
Blue-Chips Advertising group WPP (WPP) revealed that its investment management business has acquired the Benson Strategy Group, a research and consulting firm. The company in question ran the research and polling programs for President Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns and generated revenues of $15.6 million (10.03 million pounds) in the year ended 30th June. WPP said that the transaction was consistent with its plan in developing its services in "important markets and sectors." The shares increased by 30p to 1,221p. Mid Caps African oil producer Afren (AFR) revealed a 16% fall in pre-tax profits to $260 million (166.8 million pounds) for the first 6 months of the year, down on the reported $311 million (199.5 million pounds) which was reported for the first half of 2012. The firm explained that the decrease in profitability has come about as a result of impairment charges, non-recurring administrative expenses and losses on certain derivative financial instruments. These factors more than offset a 13% increase in net production over the period, with the firm's projects offshore Nigeria driving the most substantial production gains. The shares were down by 0.3p at 145.6p. Support services group Berendsen (BRSN) posted a 22% increase in pre-tax profits to 46.7 million pounds for the 6 months ended 30th June, while revenues swelled by 7% to 152.4 million pounds. The firm - which provides cleaning and other support services to clients including the NHS and the Berlin Fire Brigade - expects the rest of the year to progress in line with originally planned expectations. In response to the update, Investec retained its "buy" recommendation and 878.25p target price. The shares edged up by 9p to 879p. Construction group Balfour Beatty (BBY) has been selected, in Partnership with Welbro Building Corporation, to build the new 30-storey Houston Convention Center Hotel in downtown Houston. Once complete, the hotel will have 1,000 rooms and will be a Marriot branded establishment. The project brings the order book of Balfour Beatty's US construction business to 3.5 billion pounds. The exact revenues due to Balfour Beatty as part of the agreement was not disclosed to the market. The shares ticked upwards by 1.6p to 253.6p. Small Caps After announcing positive results earlier in the week, Rare Earth Minerals (REM) revealed that it has raised 750,000 pounds as it looks to increase its holding in the Fleur-El Sauz lithium project. REM has issued 150 million new shares at 0.5p, representing a 19% premium to yesterday's closing price of 0.42p, to facilitate purchasing another 20% of the project, taking its total interest to 30%. Management now expect a maiden resource estimate for the project to be ready in the "next several weeks." The shares soared by 0.51p to 0.93p. 3D technology group DDD Group (DDD) expects first half revenues to come in at around $2.4 million (1.54 million pounds), down from the $4 million (2.57 million pounds) which was recorded for the comparable period. The firm explained that it has seen a fall in demand for its 2D to 3D conversion software as the global PC market continues to decline. The news is likely to deal a further blow to DDD Group which has seen its share price steadily decline over the last 6 months. The shares slid by a further 3.125p to 10.375p. Retroscreen Virology (RVG), the clinical services group, announced the signing of a new Viral Challenge Model contract with an unnamed global pharmaceutical company for the provision of a human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) challenge study. The contract is valued at 4.7 million pounds. Retroscreen argues that the agreement will provide its customer with "reliable and highly controlled research programmes with earlier endpoint analysis and decision-making." The shares grew by 10p to 312.5p. ADVERTISEMENT Get free trading guides from Evil Knievil (How to successfully short stocks), Zak Mir (Top AIM market picks for 2013) and other top financial commentators by CLICKING HERE 
Energy investment company Coburg (CGG) confirmed that it failed to generated any level of revenues over the 12 months ended 30th April and, in the process, made a loss of 88,000 pounds. The loss primarily represents the costs of maintaining the company's listing on the AIM market. The company went on to promise that it is doing everything it can to minimise costs while the company searches for further suitable investments to build a portfolio in quoted natural resource companies. The shares fell by 15p to 45p. Manufacturer of display technologies Densitron Technologies (DSN) posted a 5.7% fall in revenues to 10 million pounds for the 6 months ended 30th September, swinging the company from a 40,000 pounds profit to a loss of 260,000 pounds. The technology firm conceded that these results "were a little disappointing" but argued that the traditionally busier second half of the year should see full year results exceed the numbers which were achieved in 2012. The shares slipped by 0.25p to 5.75p. Tanfield Group (TAN), a manufacturer of powered access equipment, announced that Smith Vehicles Corporation, of which Tanfield is an investor, has signed a Letter of Intent regarding a joint-venture manufacturing arrangement in Taiwan with Taikang Technology Corporation. The letter of intent will see Smith establish an assembly, distribution and service hub in Taiwan where it will produce at least 5,000 vehicles over the next three years. The shares shot up by 4.77p to 24.9p. | 
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