| From UK-Analyst.com: Thursday 12th 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 At the London close the Dow Jones was down by 4.61 points at 15,321.99 and the Nasdaq was up by 2.12 points at 3,181.99. In London the FTSE 100 closed up by 0.55 points at 6,588.98 and the FTSE 250 fell by 53.71 points to 15,192.07. The FTSE All-Share was down by 2.16 points at 3,509.02 while the FTSE AIM Index fell by 1.43 points to 779.76.  Blue Chips Morrisons (MRW), the UK's fourth largest supermarket chain, chalked up an underlying pre-tax profit of 401 million pounds for the six months to 4th August, which compares with average analyst forecasts of 410 million pounds. Turnover was flat at 8.9 billion pounds, while like-for-like sales at stores open over a year, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, fell 1.6%. Despite this, the company raised its interim dividend by 10% to 3.84p a share, saying that it expects an improvement in its sales performance in the second half, with a full year outcome "broadly in line with previous expectations." Morrisons is largely seen to have missed out on the growth in online and convenience sales - said to be growing in the UK at 16% and 20% a year respectively. To address this weakness, it is investing 200 million pounds in a 25-year deal with Ocado, as well as rolling out its "M local" stores of which it expects to have 100 by the end of the year, rising to 200 by the end of 2014. Shares in Morrisons rose by 5p to 302.2p.
WPP (WPP), the world's largest advertising company, revealed that its wholly-owned subsidiary Ogilvy & Mather has signed a deal to acquire a majority stake in digital technology and production company PennyWise Solutions, a firm based in India. The move is part of WPP's goal of developing its networks in fast-growth and important markets and sectors. PennyWise, which employs more than 140 people, was founded in 2003 and has developed a range of digital services, including custom application development, mobile application development, search engine optimisation, digital listening, online consumer response management systems, data analytics and business intelligence, network support and infrastructure management services. The agency made revenues of 119.2 million rupees (1.18 million pounds) for the year ended March 2013, and gross assets of 68.3 million rupees (0.68 million pounds). Major clients include Vodafone India, Johnson & Johnson, and LIN Digital. WPP shares finished 9p higher at 1,283p. 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 
High street fashion retailer Next (NXT) hiked its interim dividend payout to 36p from 31p after posting an 8.2% rise in half-year profits to 271.8 million pounds. Next retail sales were down 0.9% in the six months to 1 billion pounds, but its catalogue arm Next Directory saw sales jump 8.3% to 597.6 million after strong growth in international sales. Notable trends included the sale of more clothes at full price and fewer clothes in its sale. Next said that consumers were tending to buy clothes closer to the point of needing them and this had helped drive up sales in July when the weather became much warmer. Next also said it planned to return between 250 million and 350 million pounds to shareholders through a share buyback this year. The shares rose by 9p to 5,199p.
Shares in engineering and project management group AMEC (AMEC) bounced up 21p to 1,079p as investors expressed their relief at its decision not to make an offer for fellow engineer Kentz Corporation (KENZ). The decision follows last month's announcement that the company was planning a possible cash offer for the firm in the range of 565p-580p per share. AMEC told shareholders that it continued to see "attractive opportunities" to meet its goal of extending its geographic footprint in growth markets, increase the range of services offered to clients, and enhance the group's position within its markets. It added that its pipeline of opportunities remains strong, and that depending on the progress of acquisitions, additional cash returns to shareholders would be considered in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Mid Caps Shares in lighting specialist Dialight (DIA) plunged by 199.5p to 1,175.5p after it said that profits will be flat for the year due to delays in the signing of large contracts. However, the firm said it had made good progress towards gaining significant deals for its obstruction systems products, but has only highlighted one since the June half-year point, and therefore it does not expect these contracts to be awarded in time to make much of an impact on the current financial year. Consequently, Dialight expects profitability to be broadly in line with the prior year, when it made EBITDA of 25 million pounds. In an effort to reassureshareholders, Dialight insisted that the lighting segment continued to grow very strongly and stressed that these delays were not resulting in any change in guidance for both the short and long term.
Home Retail Group (HOME) said that underlying sales at Argos rose by 2.7% in the second quarter, picking up from 1.9% growth in the first quarter, driven by strong sales in seasonal products. There was particularly strong growth in sales of mobiles and tablets, with mobile commerce now representing 17% of total Argos sales. However, gross margins fell by 50 basis points in the second quarter after it sold more lower margin electrical goods.
Meanwhile, the Homebase business saw underlying sales jump by 11% in the second quarter, up from growth of 1.4% in the first quarter. Growth was driven by sales of seasonal products and big ticket items, while sales in the remaining categories were slightly down. Outgoing chief executive Terry Duddy said the firm approaches the important Christmas trading period in good operational shape. This is good news, as the firm said its full year outcome is dependent on how Argos performs during this period. Home Retail shares rallied by 8.8p to 172.7p.
Out-of-town homewares retailer Dunelm (DNLM) posted a 12.3% rise in annual pre-tax profits to 108.1 million pounds, on revenues that increased by 12.2% to 677.2 million, as it added new stores and saw improved demand for its products. The firm opened 14 new stores in the year, bringing the total number to 126, and said it strengthened its specialist proposition, improved customer service in store and increased the profile of its brand. Although management spoke of seeing some improvement in consumer confidence, it said a degree of caution in relation to the broader UK economic environment remains appropriate. Furthermore, the unusually warm summer weather has had a temporary dampening effect on recent trading, the firm explained. Looking ahead, with plans in place to improve brand awareness and to grow Dunelm further through new stores and multi-channel expansion, the group said it remains confident in the future prospects for the business. Dunelm shares finished 10p higher at 940p. Small Caps AIM listed coin dealer Noble Investments (NBL) announced that stamp and collectables specialist Stanley Gibbons (SGI) has made an approach to acquire the business. Noble has suggested that if a formal offer is made it will be at 255p per Noble share. Of this, 192.5p would be in cash and 62.5p in new Stanley Gibbons shares. Noble has indicated that it is likely to unanimously recommend such an offer were it to be made, with the two companies believing that the combination of the two businesses has considerable strategic and financial logic. The proposed offer price would value Noble at around 42.1 million pounds and would require Stanley Gibbons to raise approximately 37 million pounds. Stanley Gibbons has yet to make an announcement to the market and has until 10th October to make an offer or walk away. Shares in Noble fell by 7p to 244p, while those in Stanley Gibbons lost 4.5p to 307p. In a brief trading update, ahead of the half year to September, the niche plastics products manufacturer Plastics Capital (PLA) announced that it continues to trade broadly in line with expectations. Across the operations, mandrel sales are currently up 50% year-on-year, driven by a general improvement in market demand for existing products, introduction of new products and the positive effects of business development initiatives introduced over the last three years. The shares closed up by 7p at an all time high of 108.5p. IDOX (IDOX), the supplier of specialist document management collaboration products and services to the UK public sector, announced that its Engineering Information Management (EIM) Division has agreed to supply its McLaren Fusion Enterprise application software suite and related services to PSEG Nuclear, a subsidiary of PSEG Power LLC. The contract in the first year is worth $2.3 million, with an ongoing maintenance contract thereafter. IDOX shares closed down by 0.25p at 35.25p. 
Wynnstay (WYN), the agricultural supplies and specialist retail group, has confirmed the acquisition of Carmarthen and Pumsaint Farmers Limited, except for its freehold properties. The acquisition is expected to complete on or around 30th September. To finance the deal the company has conditionally raised 9 million pounds before expenses via a "significantly oversubscribed" placing at 535p per share, with part of the funds also being used to support Wynnstay's long-term acquisition strategy. The shares lost 3.5p to 557.50p. Coms (COMS), the Hosted VoIP Telephony provider, announced that it has signed a number of recurring contract wins over the past month within its retail, enterprise and wholesale divisions. The total revenues combined are just over 1 million pounds per annum. The shares were flat at 3.675p. Armour (AMR), the consumer electronics group, reported that it has returned to profit after a challenging two years. Profit before interest and tax for the year to 31st August is expected to be in-line with market expectations for 600,000 pounds, compared to an underlying loss of 1.2 million pounds last year. Net debt at the period end is also expected to be in-line with market expectation and Armour continues to trade "comfortably" within its available funding facilities. The company highlighted a restructuring undertaken over the past two years as the reason for the performance, with the largest improvement coming from the Armour Home business. Shares in Armour were unmoved at 6.25p. Shares in online gaming company 32Red (TTR) rose by 1.25p to 59.5p after the firm announced that pre-tax profits grew by 12% to 1.3 million pounds in the six months to June. Record revenues and underlying EBITDA were made in the six month period, driven by active casino players rising by 34% to 42,455. Mobile now generates 17% of total casino revenue, up from 8% in the first half of 2012 and 32Red was rated top in an online casino industry customer service audit. Red32 added that current trading is strong, with underlying revenues up 27%, and that it is confident of meeting full year expectations. | 
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