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08:00GMT 15Sep2009-Lamprell up on contract wins
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Shares in Lamprell Plc rise as much as 11 percent after the oil and gas rig services company says it has won three contracts worth $52 million in total.
"Although these new orders will just about maintain the order book at the interim level, management's key focus is on building up the order book rapidly over the next year," says Peter Hitchens at Panmure Gordon.
Panmure says the key for Lamprell is the company's ability to secure new orders for liftboats, which are in demand for offshore installations.
"We would wait until we see the order book start to grow before we would have confidence to buy," says the broker, maintaining a "hold" rating on the stock.
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07:54GMT 15Sep2009-BT gains as Credit Suisse upgrades
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BT Group is among the FTSE 100's strongest performers, up 3.2 percent to 133.9 pence, beating the European telecoms sector 0.2 percent gain after Credit Suisse upgrades the stock to "outperform" from "neutral" and raises its price target to 170 pence.
The broker says mid-term revenue growth looks achievable, and that this will be driven by BT Retail, rather than its Global Services arm.
"We believe fixed-line price inflation can become a recurring theme (helped by regulatory support) whilst fibre (optic cables) can arrest and potentially reverse line loss," it says in a note.
It says BT has plenty of scope for growth in this area, given that it only has 11 percent of the market in cabled areas.
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07:40GMT 15Sep2009-Anite tumbles on 4G slippage
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Shares in Anite fall 10 percent as the software firm says first-half profit will be significantly down, reflecting challenging trading conditions, and there has been some slippage in its 4G (next generation mobile technology) programme being developed with hardware company Agilent.
"Anite's FY 2010E remains highly dependent on the successful (and timely) launch of Agilent's LTE (long-term evolution, or 4G) solution, as any further slippage could be very damaging for Anite," says Altium analyst Jonathan Imlah.
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07:36GMT 15Sep2009-Smiths Group down; M.Stanley downgrades
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Shares in Smiths Group fall 1.7 percent after Morgan Stanley cuts its rating for the engineering firm to "equal-weight" from "overweight", mainly citing valuation grounds.
Morgan Stanley, in a note, raises its target price for Smiths Group to 850 pence from 825 but says following a 30 percent increase in the firm's share price in the last three months "its attributes of top-line resilience and self-help potential are now largely in the price."
Moreover, the broker says, it has not seen any large orders announced in Smiths Group's Detection division in the second half of 2009, which it thinks "raises questions on the timing of recovery and the sustainable earnings power of the division".
Morgan Stanley says the view that Smiths Group could narrow its business portfolio through asset sales might continue to move the shares, but it does not see enough upside to fundamental value to justify an "overweight" stance.
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07:30GMT 15Sep2009-UK small caps gain 0.1 percent early
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The FTSE Small Cap index gains 0.1 percent in early trade, in line with the blue chips, while the midcaps rise 0.2 percent.
Goldplat adds nearly 7 percent after the gold producer reports pretax profits of 2.4 million pounds for the year to end-June 2009, compared with 1.6 million pounds the previous year.
Lamprell gains over 6 percent after the oil services firm receives contract awards from three of its key customers, which in aggregate total $52 million.
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07:20GMT 15Sep2009-Dunelm leaps on "stellar" current trading
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Dunelm shares jump 12 percent to a new high of 312 pence after the British homewares retailer reports a 16.1 percent jump in like-for-like sales for the 10 weeks to Sept. 12.
"Stellar current trading," says Singer analyst Matthew McEachran.
He expects analysts' consensus profit forecast for 2009/10 to rise from the current 54 million pounds to between 57 and 59 million, and says a further acceleration in new store openings could boost earnings more.
Cazenove analysts raise their recommendation on Dunelm shares to "outperform" from "in-line."
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