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Hold.Quantica looks cheap at this levelDespite delivering a 30 per cent rise in annual profits yesterday, Quantica remains one of the cheapest stocks in the recruitment sector Its results easily beat City forecasts. It is now the biggest independent directories player across the Atlantic and is competing successfully against the services offered by telecom giants such as AT&T and Verizon.The growth Yell is enjoying in the US is unlikely to dry up any time soon and, according to Merrill Lynch forecasts, should help it deliver a 22 per cent rise in earnings this year and a further 15 per cent increase next year.This potential makes the rating of Yell stock, 13 times forward earnings, look conservative. Such trends are bound to endear Yell to the authorities and make a radical shake-up of the market unlikely. As for results, most analysts are expecting the commission to recommend the extension of the existing price controls which are faced by Yell.Yesterday's third-quarter results highlighted just how well the company is doing in the US. Last year's £800m purchase of the directories business, TransWestern, not only diversified it away from the UK but also gave the company exposure to a fast-growing market.In the first three quarters of its financial year, Yell registered an impressive 51 per cent jump in sales. It says not only is it up against a plethora of online alternatives, but also that heavy hitters such as Trinity Mirror and BT Group have recently entered the market.Meanwhile, the prices its Yellow Pages directory charges advertisers continue to fall.

As it stands, Yell, along with Thomson Local, controls about 90 per cent of the UK market. However, the group insists it is facing increasing competition and is urging the authorities not to take action. The key question facing the commission is whether online directories and search engines are part of Yell's market and, if not, the extent to which they will provide a constraint on the market for printed classified directories in the future. Investors seem unconcerned by the Competition Commission's inquiry into Yell's dominance of the UK printed directories market. Although its shares were sold off sharply when the referral was announced in April, they have since recovered these losses and gained nearly 20 per cent. The company said its site in Merlani, Tanzania, has greater deposits of the eponymous gemstone, and its shares rallied 20.5p to 191.5p.. Volume was massive, with 228 million shares changing hands; Sanctuary shares rallied 1.23p to 1.9p.No trading day in London would be complete without an emerging market mining story, and yesterday it was provided by the AIM-listed TanzaniteOne. Eton Park is run by Erich Mindich who runs more than $3bn of capital at Eton Park.

Its shares were traded down to 756.5p, down 21.5p, but recovered to close at 770p, a fall of 8p.Amongsmaller companies, shares in Sanctuary rocketed in what traders refer to as a "bear squeeze", when too many traders with short positions in a stock close at the same time. This week the music group launched a rescue rights issue and placing priced at 0.25p a share. Woolworths shares were heavily traded, with 119.5 million changing hands, and the retailer's shares ended the session as the biggest riser in the FTSE 250, closing at 34.5p, up 2p, while Smiths also rallied to close at 408.75p, up 10.75p.Matalan, another struggling retail stock, was the subject of rumours concerning a possible management buyout, this time at about 250p a share. Once the darling of the sector, its shares traded at more than 550p in mid-2001, but a succession of profits warnings and management squabbles have seen Matalan shares languishing at less than 200p for most of the past three years.

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