Round-up: Imagination Technologies, Albermarle & Bond, Scottish American...

15th Feb 2011 12:12

Shares in Imagination Technologies jumped after the graphics chip technology developer signed a license agreement with European device manufacturer STMicroelectronics.STM will use Imagination Technologies' new 'Rogue' graphics processor in its chip for devices such as smartphones and tablets.The win impressed the broker Morgan Stanley, which said: "We continue to believe that graphics processors are a key differentiator for tablets and smartphones going forward, and we reiterate our overweight on Imagination." The broker said Rogue had been chosen ahead of ARM's Mali graphics chip.Higher costs following a new store opening programme and the annualisation of investment in the group's central infrastructure and systems kept profits in check at pawnbroker Albermarle & Bond in the past six months. Interim profit before tax was level at £10.7m (2010: £10.8m), with EPS of 14.13p (2010: 14.16p)."The 32% year on year increase in the Pawn pledge book is a key performance indicator as it is by far our largest business; this increase was achieved by market leading lending practices, higher average loan sizes and increasing numbers of new customers. There was another very strong contribution from Gold Buying and an excellent performance from unsecured lending products. This has been a good start to the financial year," the pawnbroker added.Scottish American Inv Trust's net asset value per share rose from 206p to 242.5p in 2010, a rise of 17.7%. Earnings per share were slightly lower at 8.51p (9.05p in 2009) due to lower bond income and last year's exceptional VAT related receipts. Revenue reserves stand at 10.6p per share. A final dividend of 2.35p per share makes total of 9.25p per share for the year (9.05p in 2009)."Recent developments in a number of Middle East countries also remind us that unexpected events can, and will, happen. We therefore start this new financial year with a slightly more cautious outlook than last year," the trust's manager said.