| From UK-Analyst.com: Monday 23rd September 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 Business activity in the Eurozone increased at the quickest rate in over two years according to the latest purchasing managers index from Markit. The Markit composite purchasing managers' index - which includes manufacturing and services - rose to 52.1 points, from 51.5 in August, edging further away from the 50 threshold which separates growth and contraction. The results were driven by a good level of growth in activity in Germany, while activity in France increased marginally for the first time in more than 18 months. On a sector basis, manufacturing helped to drive the increase in business activity, with the previous three months representing the sector's strongest quarter of growth for more than two years. James Howat, European Economist at Capital Economics, argued, "All in all, while a recovery seems to be under way, the euro zone still faces a long internal adjustment." Over in Asia, new data from China confirmed that manufacturing activity expanded this month. The HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index rose from 50.1 in August to 51.2 in September, marking a second successive month of expansion. Manufacturing has traditionally been a driver of Chinese growth in recent years but has since been impacted by a slowdown in the key export markets of the US and Europe. As such, the world's second largest economy has been trying to stimulate domestic demand in order to offset the decline in foreign sales and rebalance its economy. Qu Hongbin of HSBC commented "The firmer footing was supported by simultaneous improvements of external and domestic demand conditions." 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 
At the London close the Dow Jones was down by 62.66 points at 15,388.53 and the Nasdaq was down by 15.14 points at 3,209.59. In London the FTSE 100 closed down by 39.06 points at 6,557.47 and the FTSE 250 fell by 111.37 points to 14920.90. The FTSE All-Share was down by 21.77 points at 3,487.22 while the FTSE AIM Index fell by 4.75 points to 789.69.  Broker Notes Beaufort Securities downgraded its positive stance to a "hold" recommendation on oil giant BP (BP.). The broker acknowledges that the company delivered a resilient performance in Q2 2013 despite unfavourable market conditions, including lower oil & gas prices and reduced net income from certain geographies including Russia. However, given the tough environment faced by the company and the continued burden of restoration after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Beaufort feels that the future prospects of the company look a little uncertain. The shares slipped by 1.85p to 440.2p. Canaccord Genuity stuck with its "buy" recommendation on medical group Vectura (VEC)with a target price of 125p. The broker notes that the group's QVA149 product (Ultibro Breezhaler) has received approval in Europe, in a move which triggers $12.5 million in (7.8 million pounds) milestone payments to Vectura. Furthermore, Canaccord sees positive progress with Vectura's VR315 asthma-combating drug as a potential significant driver of Vectura shares. The shares were down by 0.5p at 112p. N+1 Singer maintained its "buy" recommendation on conference organiser ITE Group (ITE), increasing its target price to 335p. The broker feels that there is scope for earnings to be boosted by further acquisitions. N+1 Singer goes on to cite the fact that the shares are currently trading on a 9.2x EV/EBITDA for the FY'14/FY'15 biennial cycle - a significant discount to the historic average. The shares grew by 5.2p to 275.5p. 
Blue Chips Asset management group Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) claimed that underlying pre-tax profit levels are expected to come in at the upper end of market expectations for the year ended 30th September. Management argued that the company's scale and diversity has seen it perform resiliently against the backdrop of volatile markets in recent months with a considerable appetite for non-equity products such as its new property fund. The update comes after RBC Capital Markets last week re-iterated its "outperform" recommendation on the group. The shares were up by 1.2p at 388.5p. British gas owner Centrica (CNA) conceded that it is to abandon its plans to go-ahead with a new gas storage project in the UK's southern North Sea and also confirmed that it has put another project in Yorkshire on hold indefinitely. Centrica management explained that these decisions were affected by the announcement by the UK Government which ruled out intervention in the market to encourage additional gas storage capacity to be built. As a result of its decision, Centrica will recognise impairments and provisions totalling about 240 million pounds as an exceptional cost in its full-year results. The shares fell by 5.2p to 397p. Mid Caps Drinks supplier A.G Barr (BAG) booked a 12% increase in first half profits to 16.6 million pounds as the decent summer weather increased the demand for brands such as Rubicon and Irn Bru. Although the company insists that the market remains challenging, CEO Roger White maintained at a meeting today that the company would hit full year expectations. Canaccord Genuity upgraded its stance to "buy" on the back of the announcement, increasing its target price from 570p to 630p. The shares dropped by 3p to 522p. Dairy products group Dairy Crest (DCG) also claimed that it is in line to hit full year profit expectations after trading "steadily" over the first half of the year. The firm reserved special praise for its Cathedral City cheese product, which outperformed the market, but admitted that the butters and spreads market has been difficult. As such, profits generated from within its spreads business came in lower than last year, with the firm's Country Life brand performing particularly disappointingly on the back of a drop off in promotional activity. The shares increased by 2.5p to 474.1p. Animal genetics company Genus (GNS) confirmed that it has bought Génétiporc, a Canadian company specialising in pig Genetics, for a consideration of 24.8 million pounds. Under the terms of the acquisition, Genus will take control of Génétiporc businesses in the US and Mexico, as well as certain assets in Canada including intellectual property rights. Genus management argued that the deal is in line with its strategy of increasing its presence in the North American market. The shares swelled by 19p to 1,389p. Small Caps Business support group Imaginatik (IMTK) confirmed that it has agreed a three year contract with Shell to build a platform for the Shell Ideas 360 Graduate programme. The programme is aimed at developing and sharing ideas in the hope of coming up with innovative, practical, and potentially game-changing solutions in energy. Imaginatik - which hinted that more contracts of this nature could soon be on the table - did not release the financial details of the contract. The shares were up by 0.035p at 0.12p. Turkey based gold explorer Ariana Resources* (AAU) revealed that it has discovered four highly mineralised gold-silver zones in the region of the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Gold Project in Western Turkey. The project - which is held within a Joint Venture currently 82% owned by Ariana - is still subject to environmental approval. Looking ahead, the group now intends to generate new drilling targets for testing during mine construction and start-up in 2014. The shares soared by 0.425p to 1.325p. Human resources firm Savile Group (SAVG) admitted that its Fairplace business experienced an unusually quiet July and August which has caused the group to incur "a significant loss over the period". In a bid to combat the effect of this underperformance, the group is now looking at ways in which it can cut its costs and is also exploring finance options. This comes after the group traded profitably in the half year ended 30th June. The shares plummeted by 5p to 6.5p. Football club owner Arsenal Holdings (AFC) posted pre-tax profits of 6.7 million pounds for the year ended 31st May, down on the 36.6 million pounds recorded for the previous year. The club - currently top of the Premier League after beating Stoke 3-1 yesterday - saw its "turnover from football" increase to 242.8 million pounds from 235.2 million pounds, primarily as a result of the group's growing links with the Emirates airline. However, the falling profits were due to lower gains from player trading. A bit like the atmosphere at the ground, the shares remained flat at 16,000 pounds. 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
Electronic component distributor APC Technology (APC) expects pre-tax profits for the year ended 31st August to come in ahead of market expectations after experiencing "rapid growth in the cleantech sector". The firm also said that it is riding the wave of increased consumer confidence in the UK and, as a result, expects to report revenues of around 21 million pounds for the year, over 50% up on the prior year. The shares edged up by 0.375p to 37.75p. In the latest blow of its own trumpet, blur Group (BLUR) confirmed that an un-named US media company has selected blur's exchange as its primary marketing services platform for the 2013-2014 season, in a project valued at $500,000 (312,000 pounds). blur, which provides a market for service suppliers and users, said that the deal was an example of the group extending its international reach. The shares were up by 7.5p to 463.5p. Interactive technology group Mood Media (MM.), has appointed Steven Richards as Chief Executive in a move which will become effective immediately. Richards is the former head of Mood Media's North American operations and was appointed CEO after an internal review. Separately, the company admitted that it had considered the sale of the business but concluded that the "continued execution of the business strategy" was in the best interests of the company. The shares slipped by 0.5p to 41p. *Ariana Resources is a corporate client of a subsidiary of Rivington Street Holdings, the owner of UK-Analyst. | 
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