Market overview: 30 April

• Advertising conglomerate WPP has made a small strategic investment in Enprecis, a US company which uses a proprietary online platform to collect and analyse data about consumer experience for the car industry.

• Fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management has reported a solid rise in revenue and profit in its first half which it says was down to a return of investor appetite for risk assets in 2012 and an ongoing desire for yield (IC COMMENT).

• Insurance giant Aviva is the latest firm to sit up and take note of disgruntled shareholders as it announced a review of executive remuneration practises.

• The heat treatment firm Bodycote says it will open a new surface technology plant in Houston, Texas.

• Fidessa , the software provider focused on the financial community, reckons things will remain tough for its clients for some time, and expects some of them to leave the market altogether.

• Recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service provider Harvey Nash revealed a robust set of annual results amid strong demand from its UK and Nordic markets (IC COMMENT).

• It is always a struggle for platinum producer Aquarius to lure the workers back on time after Christmas and 2012 has proved worse than usual.

• Rail operator Stagecoach is teaming up with infrastructure firm Network Rail to create a joint management team that will be responsible for both train and tracks on routes to the south-west of England.

• Defence technology firm Cobham has been awarded a $39m contract to manufacture a transmitter-antenna for the US Navy and Marine Corps' electronic warfare aircraft.

• Engineering giant Weir has today announced the launch of new products by its Oil and Gas division which are expected to expand its addressable market by over 500m dollars.

• Energy services provider Hunting said it had sold its Canadian airport business for seven-and-a-half million pounds.

• Communications group Creston confirmed that headline pre-tax profit for the full year is expected to be in line with company expectations.

• Barclays Natural Resource Investments, a division of Barclays bank, is to team up with the Qatar Asset Management Company to form a joint investment partnership.

• Mustang, a subsidiary of oilfield support services firm Wood Group , has been awarded engineering and support contracts for the world's biggest semi-submersible production facility.

• The owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks has said it will cut 1,400 jobs there by 2015.

• AIM listed e-learning software and business training provider ILX said it is confident trading for the year ended 31 March 2012 will meet market expectations.

• Recruitment software provider World Careers Networks says a rise in licence fee and 'implementation' income boosted revenues and profits in the six months to the end of January.

• High-flying potash development group Sirius Minerals said the detailed scoping study of its York potash project has confirmed the asset's viability.

• Gulf Keystone Petroleum , the northern Iraq-focused oil explorer, has risen sharply this morning after updating the market on its drilling programme.

• Consort Medical said the first product to use its built-in dose counter had been given the go-ahead by the US Food and Drug Administration.

• Shares in Public Service Properties Investments fell another ten percent on Monday after it reported a fall in net asset value in 2011 and warned about its financial health going forward.

• Dealings in portable accommodation units outfit Snoozebox are set to start on AIM on May 1st, after the company completed a placing of shares at 40p each.

• UK banking group Lloyds has quashed rumours that it has received a 'multi-billion' pound offer for its life assurance, pensions and savings business, Scottish Widows.

• Software and information technology services group Sanderson saw a sharp increase in order intake in the first half of its financial year.

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