■Lloyds Banking Group has priced its record £13.5bn rights issue at 37p a share, a discount of 59.5 per cent to last night's closing price.
â– Housebuilder Bovis announced that its finance director Neil Cooper will leave the company to take the same job at bookmaker William Hill.
â– Tile and flooring specialist Topps Tiles is to shore up its balance sheet with a placing of up to 17.1m new of shares, approximately 10 per cent of its issued ordinary share capital.
â– Lloyds List publisher Informa has confirmed reports it is in discussions over the possible acquisition of German publisher Springer.
â– Mining giant Rio Tinto has entered into an agreement with a smaller peer in Australia's Pilbara region to buy iron ore from the company.
â– Water supplier Severn Trent posted a rise in turnover and profits in the six months to September 30 and lifted its dividend ().
â– Home maintenance specialist Homeserve is on track for a year of "strong growth" as its core business did well at the halfway stage and good levels of new policy sales ().
â– Telecoms group Kcom reported a sharp rise in half-year profits despite a drop in revenues as it maintained its interim dividend ().
â– Plumbing supplies distributor BSS reported a drop in half-year profits and said it expects market conditions to remain challenging throughout 2010 ().
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â– A dearth of new releases in the first quarter of its financial year contributed to a slide in interim profits at Indian entertainment media company Eros.
â– Andor Technology reported a 67 per cent rise in half-year profits but said it remains cautious about the economic outlook.