■ Housebuilder Bovis said it has seen further signs of stabilisation in the housing market and expects more pricing stability and modest growth in mortgage availability in 2010.
■ Troubled broadcaster ITV has confirmed the appointment of former Tory party MP Archie Norman as its new non-executive Chairman.
■ Wolseley, the plumbers' merchant, said underlying trading profit was down by more than a quarter in the three months to end-October from a year ago.
■ Oil and gas firm Melrose Resources has raised its estimate of average daily production for the year after a productive third quarter.
■ Credit checking firm Experian boosted profits at its half-year point despite tough market conditions ().
■ Courier firm UK Mail, previously known as Business Post, posted an 18 per cent rise in half year pre-tax profit while revenue slipped 3.2 per cent as it issued a confident outlook for the full year ().
■ Lower interest on its clients' deposits hit half year earnings at fund manager Rensburg Sheppards ().
■ All of the key numbers still pointed down in Land Securities' half-year figures, but the property giant is confident 'that from the low point in July 2009 property values will rise over the next five years' ().
■ Children's retailer Mothercare reported a 7.9 per cent hike in interim sales boosted by new overseas stores, but swung to a pre-tax loss after it was hit by charges ().
Continues below...
■ US sweet maker Hershey and Italian chocolate firm Ferrero have confirmed that they are considering a joint bid for Cadbury.
■ Marks & Spencer has unveiled the boss of supermarket Morrisons as its new chief executive.
■ Shares in Petra Diamonds sparkled after the diamond producer said received strong prices from the sale of two diamonds.
■ Artificial joint maker Corin's recent underlying constant currency sales growth has been in-line with the 10 per cent level achieved in the first half year.
■ Entertainment One, the firm behind the Twilight vampire films, saw more red in the first half with losses up to £7.9m from £5.5m, as higher interest charges and write-offs offset higher revenues.
■ Irish pharmaceutical firm United Drug posted a 5 per cent fall in full-year profits and said it saw 'very buoyant' trading conditions in parts of the group but challenging conditions in other parts.
■ Shares in GTL Resources climbed after the renewable fuels group moved into profit.
■ Water technology group Modern Water's 76 per cent-owned subsidiary Cymtox has received its first revenues from sales of water toxicity monitoring units in China.
■ Outsourcing specialist Capita Group is in upbeat mode after a strong performance in the first 10 months of 2009.
■ Ladbrokes has appointed Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey as one of two new non-executives.
■ The Restaurant Group, the company behind the Frankie & Bennie's and Chiquito chains, is confident of meeting its expectations for the full-year but warned that conditions will remain tough.
■ Merchant bank Close Brothers expects a solid performance for the current year after all three of its divisions had a decent first quarter, though it added the result will depend on the extent of any continuing economic and financial market recovery.
■ Computer services group Dimension Data reported lower full-year figures but said it is encouraged by the recent stabilisation in its end markets.
■ Cheese and nutritional ingredients group Glanbia said adjusted earnings for 2009 are likely to be at the lower end of market expectations.
■ Satnav group Trafficmaster said it made 'solid progress in the second half' and is on track to make similar operating profit in 2009 to the previous year.
FOR A SUMMARY OF LATEST MOVEMENTS IN EQUITY, COMMODITY AND CURRENCY MARKETS, SEE FT.COM'S MARKETS PAGE
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NEWSPAPER SHARE TIPS (18 NOV 2009):
Full round-up of newspaper share tips (sourced from Sharecast)
PRESS HEADLINES:
ITV will today name Archie Norman, the former chief executive of Asda, as its new chairman, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The appointment of Mr Norman, 55, a former Tory MP, will bring to an end an embarrassing seven-month succession process for the broadcaster as it sought to replace Michael Grade, the executive chairman. Mr Norman was credited with the turnround of Asda in the 1990s and will have to oversee a similar process at ITV, reports the FT.
Hershey, the firm behind the eponymous chocolate bar, and Ferrero, which makes the iconic Ferrero Rocher chocolates, have held talks in recent weeks about trumping the £10bn bid for Cadbury by Kraft, the American food giant, The Telegraph reports.
Meanwhile, The Times adds that the Ferrero family, owner of Ferrero Rocher, is understood to be divided over a possible audacious deal with Cadbury, the British confectioner. Michele Ferrero, the head of the family, is said to be keen to keep the business independent rather than involve other investors in a play for Cadbury or take part in a tie-up with the maker of Dairy Milk
The private details of millions of mobile phone customers, including their numbers and addresses, have been sold illegally. Staff at T-Mobile passed the information to brokers who then sold it to rival phone companies. The companies then called customers as their contracts were due to expire to offer a better mobile phone deal. T-Mobile confirmed that it was being investigated for breaching data protection rules after Britain's information watchdog said that an unnamed mobile phone company had been involved in the illegal sale of customers' records, the Times reports.
Housing affordability peaked in the second quarter of the year and is now deteriorating as property prices rise, according to research produced by Lombard Street Research (LSR). The economic consultancy's housing affordability, produced in conjunction with The Daily Telegraph, shows that in the second quarter of the year house prices were at their most undervalued level since the mid-1990s.
The new head of Vauxhall said yesterday he was confident that far fewer than 800 workers in the UK would be made redundant as the carmaker indicated that it wanted loans and guarantees from the British taxpayer. However, the car group is also seeking a deal with unions to extract concessions from workers that could include pay cuts and reductions in benefits, the Times reports.
Goldman Sachs delivered a long awaited apology yesterday for its role in the global financial crisis and announced a $500m (£299m) pledge to small businesses. Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of the bank, said: "We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret ... We apologise." He added that the bank was "very concerned" about the criticism it received for accepting a $10bn bailout, only to return quickly to paying multimillion-dollar bonuses. "Our reputation is very important to us," Mr Blankfein said, reports the Times.
A lawyer representing Hermitage Capital Management, the fund manager, has died in jail amid a dispute between the fund's co-founder Bill Browder and Russian authorities. The death of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year old father of two, is set to reignite concerns about investing and doing business in Russia, The Telegraph reports.
The new head of global retail banking at Barclays has joined the backlash of traditional bankers against the entry into banking of supermarkets and other consumer companies. Antony Jenkins said the new competitors may be under-estimating the difficulties of breaking into the market. Mr Jenkins, who last week replaced Frits Seegers following a surprise shake-up of the bank's management team, cast doubt on whether Tesco and Virgin had the right skills to run a bank, the FT reports.
European and Latin American trade officials are close to a deal over bananas that would end the longest-running dispute in the history of the World Trade Organisation and could lead to lower prices for consumers. A draft settlement seen by the Financial Times calls for the European Union to cut sharply duties on bananas and dozens of other tropical products. It could be signed this week, said people familiar with the talks.
Fears that the Bank of England may have to reverse its policy of quantitative easing – injecting cash directly into the economy – and raise rates sooner than expected were heightened yesterday with the publication of the latest inflation figures. The Office for National Statistics said that the annual rate of CPI inflation rose sharply higher in the year to October to 1.5 per cent, up from the 1.1 per cent annual rate of change recorded in September, the Independent reports.
