News

Mining firm Latitude said it noted the announcement made last night by Clos de Mesnil Limited of its intention to make a mandatory offer at 4p per share.

The Independent directors are considering the offer. Non-executive director Jonathan Rowland has an interest in Clos del Mesnil and will therefore not be involved in the discussion process.

Home shopping group Flying Brands said its actions to offset the impact of poor weather, the increase in the global prices of grain and the rise in stem costs and postal charges are progressing well, adding that October trading is on forecast.

Group sales for the three months came to £7.5m from £9.3m last time and are consistent with revised expectations.

The Garden division's sales were down by £0.6m, £0.2m due to timing and the remainder due predominantly to the poor weather in August. The Entertainment unit's sales declined by £0.2m, while Flying Flowers' sales were £0.1m lower.

Gold and copper miner African Eagle said the recently discovered Dutwa nickel laterite project in Tanzania, included the best nickel intercept of the project so far, almost 60m at 2.6%.

"Good results continue to be delivered for this project, with the best nickel intercept to date in this latest batch. The thickness and grade of the nickeliferous laterite blanket delineated so far are superb," said Managing Director, Mark Parker.

Leni Gas & Oil has re-interpreted its exploration acreage in north-west Spain, concluding that the recoverable prospective and contingent resources across the 10 prospects have a total unrisked mean volume of 12.8m barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe).

Drilling programs will identify those prospects with the highest chance of success for near term development in late 2009 and 2010, said the firm.

Corporate loan specialist ACP Mezzanine's unaudited net asset value was €0.545 per share at the end of September, down from €0.648 at the end of June. It plans a €0.1065 a share distribution to shareholders.

The group blamed the drop on the repayment in full of the Deutsche Bank facility, the write down to nil of the investment in Pfaff Industrie Maschinen from an original cost of €9.46m and the ongoing deterioration in indicative pricing for structured products.

HR solutions outfit OneClickHR still expects a "satisfactory" result for the year to 31 December 2008 as it continues to enjoy a strong pipeline of sales.

The firm has also attracted a number of new clients for its software solution HR.Net, including Irish legal firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice, an international consultancy business with operations in both the UK and the US and a global commodity broker employing over 4,000 staff.

Communications software provider Redknee had a good fourth quarter, lifting its full year revenue above previous guidance levels.

Redknee expects revenue for the year to end-September will now fall in the range of C$49m to C$50.5m, up from the C$45m to C$48m indicated at the interim stage.

The company announced it has received a C$5m order from a Tier 1 North American carrier, with the majority of the revenue from the contract expected to be received in fiscal 2009.

Car dealer HR Owen said it still expects to trade profitably in the second half of the year, despite September's grim vehicle registration figures, when new vehicle registrations fell by 21%.