• Hargreaves Lansdown, the financial services provider and asset management group, saw a record level of Assets under Administration in the three months to March 31st despite the tough macro-economic conditions.
• Ladbrokes' reliance on gaming machines to drive revenue growth at its High Street betting shops was again in evidence in the first quarter, while it seems to have had a better Cheltenham race festival than most of the punters who use its services.
• Housebuilder Persimmon experienced a strong start to 2012 with the spring selling season continuing to outperform the previous year as weekly private sales rise around 20 percent.
• There is no news yet from real estate investment trust Hammerson on its proposed sale of its London office portfolio, but the group did say there has been a high level of interest in the assets.
• Anglo American saw production in most of its major resource groups increase strongly in the first quarter.
• Lager brewing leviathan SABMiller saw group revenue grow by one-tenth in the final quarter of its financial year on an organic constant currency basis, with revenue per hectolitre up by one-twentieth year-on-year.
• UK Commercial Property Trust, the FTSE 250 Guernsey-based property firm, has received planning consent from Shropshire Council for its proposed New Riverside redevelopment in Shrewsbury.
• Devro, which makes manufactured casings such as sausage skins for the food industry, said sales growth continued in the year to date as demand from Eastern Europe, Russia, Japan, SE Asia and Latin America offset slower demand from the UK.
• Shares in Randall & Quilter Investment took a dive after the group posted a loss on ordinary activities following an impairment charge, plunging the company into the red (IC COMMENT).
• Bookseller and general retailer WH Smith saw like-for-like and total sales fall in both its main divisions in the six months to the end of February but profits were up (IC COMMENT).
• Jupiter Fund Management has started to benefit from the big share price rises seen in the first three months of this year, although the investment firm still saw net outflows in the first quarter (IC COMMENT).
• GlaxoSmithKline has confirmed it made an offer on April 11th to purchase US biopharmaceutical firm Human Genome Sciences, but has seen its bid 'rejected without discussion' (IC COMMENT).
• Electronics group, Stadium issued a profits warning today ahead of its annual general meeting (IC COMMENT).
• Half-year profits at High Street retail chain Debenhams were ahead of market forecasts, giving the board confidence the department store group will hit full year expectations.
• The Office of Fair Trading has more than halved the fine it slapped on British Airways back in 2007 for colluding with its rival Virgin Atlantic on fuel surcharges.
• International Power, the FTSE 100 energy firm which has recently received a takeover offer from major shareholder GDF SUEZ, said that revenue in the three months of the year increased by five per cent while its growth and construction programme progresses well.
• Talvivaara Mining Company has maintained that its full year nickel production will be at the lower end of its guidance of 25,000-30,000 tonnes after its output was adversely affected by downtime at the metals recovery plant, resulting from environmental investments and unscheduled occupational safety-related improvements.
• Mining company African Barrick Gold has posted first quarter revenue on par with the same period last year despite reduced production levels due to mine sequencing resulting, as expected, in lower grades.
• International Public Partnerships, the infrastructure investment company, said that its net asset value rose in 2011 but profits fell.
• Time is running out for Vodafone to make a bid for the struggling telecoms company Cable & Wireless Worldwide following news Tata Communications has decided not to bid for the firm.
• There is blood on the board room carpet at Aviva after the insurance giant restructured its management structure to reflect the fact it now operates in fewer countries than in days of yore.
• Southampton based research firm, Synairgen, has rocketed in morning trading after announcing results for a treatment which could protect asthmatics from respiratory virus infections.
• Investment firm SVG Capital, which has stakes in fashion firm Hugo Boss and Birds Eye frozen food firm Iglo, saw its net asset value per share increase by one-sixth in the first quarter of 2012.
• Marketing and advertising giant WPP has bought a "strategic" stake in Dolphin Software, the owners of the mySupermarket price comparison service.
• Electrical component supplier e2v technologies has said that its full-year trading performance is now expected to be at the upper end of management's previous expectations following a boost to sales.
• Oil and gas firm Tullow has announced that the Mercury-2 exploratory appraisal well in Sierra Leone and the Kosrou-1 exploration well in Côte d'Ivoire have both encountered water bearing reservoirs with oil shows.
