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The AIM-listed engineer unveiled pre-tax profits of £1

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The AIM-listed engineer unveiled pre-tax profits of £1.6m, up from £124,000 a year earlier. There was also talk of improving conditions at Blavod Black Vodka, 3.5p better at 56p. A mixture of costs cuts and strong orders from Eastern Europe are said to be pushing the group towards profitability. The group complained about an "unprecedented number of project deferrals" in August. The broker Investec Securities warned that significant downgrades to estimates are on the cards.

NWF Group, the AIM-listed industrials company, jumped 18p to 403p as gossips suggested that its grocery and fuels distribution units are enjoying stellar trading. Word has it they experienced record business in July and August. Diagonal slumped 15.5p to 63p after the software group said full-year results would come in below forecast. Meanwhile at the mortgage specialist Kensington Group, up 3p to 351.5p, Martin Finegold, a non-executive, netted £3.2m through the sale of 1 million shares at 328p each. On Thursday, Marconi sold its 40 per cent stake in the group, thereby clearing a long-term overhang of stock and increasing liquidity.

Market professionals believe the group is benefiting greatly from rising demand for the company's machine tools out of Japan.Directors piled into Easynet, down 2.5p to 135p. Keith Todd, the non-executive chairman, led the way via the purchase of 44,000 shares at 127p. Renishaw added 12p to 551p on talk of strong trading at the group. Instead, the latest data revealed a continued fall in employment, leading some investors to scale back their optimism about the economic recovery in the US.

Goldman Sachs pushed Centrica 5.25p higher to 182.5p as the heavyweight broker upped its fair value target to 234p from 202p, citing its "increased confidence in Centrica being able to double operating margins at British Gas to 8 per cent by 2005". Goldman attributed its confidence about improving margins at the group to the new IT system which has been installed at British Gas's domestic energy supply business. The uncertainty was caused by weaker-than-expected US jobs figures. Analysts had forecast the world's largest economy would create about 12,000 jobs in August.

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