Goldman Sachs reckons Unilever's (LON:ULVR) growth is set to accelerate through 2011. In a note, the investment giant looked at the food sector in Europe and, as well as Unilver, looked at Danone and Nestle. All three are due to report Q2 results shortly.
Hedge fund manager Man Group (LON:EMG) reported that its funds under management increased from US$69.1 billion at the end of March to US$71 billion at 30 June. Sales achieved a record US$9 billion during the quarter to end June, giving a new inflow of US$3.7 billion after redemptions of US$5.3 billion.
The flow of positive broker notes in response to yesterday’s strong production report from Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) continued today, with Deutsche Bank upping its earnings forecasts for the company. London’s only listed pure iron ore producer revealed on Wednesday that its pellet production from its own ore rose 6.9 percent to 2.27 million tonnes (Mt) in the second quarter this year.
Electrical and industrial distributor Premier Farnell (LON:PFL) announced today that it expects lower than targeted revenue growth for Q2 this year. The firm revealed 1.4 percent year-on-year sales growth in the first two months of the second quarter (May and June) but this is much lower than its 6 - 8 percent target for the whole quarter.
Earnings estimates for Persimmon (LON:PSN) have been upgraded by J P Morgan after the house builder’s upbeat trading statement on Tuesday increased expectations over operating margin.
Dragon Oil PLC (LON:DGO) has completed and tested its latest development well in the Caspian Sea. The oil producer is currently expanding its operations in the Cheleken contract area offshore Turkmenistan, with a major three year drill programme that is expected to cost as much as US$700 million.
Jewellery firm Theo Fennell (LON:TFL) said that “extreme snow” during the Christmas trading period was responsible for flat sales in its financial year to 31 March 2011. Although the company had a strong first half last year, with sales up 12.5 percent, it only achieved total sales for the year of £12.5 million (broadly in line with the previous year’s sales of £12.6 million). Meanwhile, its loss before tax increased to £547,379 (2010: £349,765).
Chaarat Gold (LON:CGH) has added over 300,000 ounces to its gold resource for the flagship project in the Kyrgyz Republic, following positive drill results from six holes. The holes were drilled on the 'Contact Zone’ and the resource for this part of the Chaarat project has increased by 16 percent, from 2.001 million ounces to 2.331 million ounces.
Wasabi Energy (LON:WAS, ASX:WAS) said that its Kalina Cycle power plant technology is rapidly gaining strong industry acceptance as the firm uses both licensing and build, own and operate (BOO) strategies to accelerate its rollout.
Ovoca Gold (LON:OVG) has revealed a significant upgrade of resources at its Olcha project in the Magadan region of Russia - standing now at 650,000 ounces of gold and 3.59 million ounces of silver. Last June, the company announced a maiden JORC inferred gold resource at the project of 344,000 ounces based on 16,455m of drilling across 144 holes.
Victoria Oil & Gas (LON:VOG) put out an encouraging update on its exploration work across its West Medvezhye block in Siberia. It is also making progress with taking its first discovery there, Well-103, to full commercialisation.
Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH) has again extended its drill programme in the Falklands, adding one additional rig slot on the Ocean Guardian rig. The high profile explorer will shortly spud its third appraisal well on the Sea Lion oil discovery, after that it has three more contracted wells which will be drilled in succession.
Faroe Petroleum (LON:FPM) said drilling has begun on its Fulla exploration prospect west of Shetland in the Atlantic Margin. The exploration well (in which Faroe has a 50 percent stake) is located to the north-east of the producing Clair oil field and is targeting potentially oil-bearing Devonian Clair reservoir sands at a depth of 2,100 metres.
Cadogan Petroleum (LON:CAD) revealed that major Italian energy firm Eni S. p. A had completed its acquisition of an interest in two of Cadogan's eastern Ukraine licences. The transaction was completed yesterday (July 6) having received shareholder approval on June 16 this year.
Alexander Mining (LON:AXM), the mining technology group, has been asked by Tiger Resources (LON:TIR, ASX/TSX:TGS) to design a pilot plant for its flagship Kipoi copper/cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The appointment lends further commercial credibility to Alexander’s expertise and ability to deliver.
Fuel cells maker AFC Energy (LON:AFC) plans to begin field testing of its ‘Beta’ fuel cell system in the second half of this year as it moves towards commercialisation of its technology.
Caza Oil & Gas (LON:CAZA, TSE:CAZ) reported that log data from a newly drilled well at the Bongo property in Wharton County in Texas indicated potential oil pay sections in its targeted formations. Most importantly, the data gathered from the O.B. Ranch No.2 well confirmed Caza’s theory that the previous well, O.B. Ranch No.1, produced from the fringe of a larger oil bearing Cook Mountain section.
Northland Capital Partners upheld its bullish forecasts for Telit Communications (LON:TCM) today, retaining the view that the company will outperform the growing telecom market in the next two years. Even though the share price has risen sharply over the past six months, rising from 70 pence at the start of the year to the current 91 pence, Northland sees Telit as a good buying opportunity.
Clothing retailer Alexon Group (LON:AXN) said that despite good progress made by it between January and July this year, it expects its performance during the current year to be affected by challenging trading conditions within the UK retail industry.
Evolution Securities reckon Nautical Petroleum (LON:NPE) could push the Kraken heavy oil project forward and submit a preliminary field development plan by September if a new well is successful. The North Sea oil firm spudded the 9/02b-5 appraisal well yesterday.