Good morning,

AIM Prospector has covered corporate transactions/stock-taking business Christie (LON:CTG) previously, focusing on the potential in the business' Professional Services Division (where Christie acts as an agent in corporate transactions)

Interims this morning:
http://www.investegate.co.uk/christie-group-plc--ctg-/rns/half-yearly-report/201409160700117330R/

Revenue for the first half up 14.4% to £29.4m (2013: £25.7m)

£1.1m increase in operating profit before exceptional items to £0.8m (2013: £0.3m loss)

Basic earnings per share up 5p per share to 1.74p (2013: 3.26p negative eps)

Interim dividend increased by 50% to 0.75p per share (2013: 0.5p per share)

Corporate M&A instructions provide basis for expectation of a strong full year result

While the eps figure is modest, the dividend increase is a very strong signal of confidence.

Mergers & Acquisitions activity has been both intense and successful, with our UK operations leading the recovery in what has been an encouraging six months. The rewards of this activity have continued to accrue across the summer and, with our pipelines fully charged, we anticipate the delivery of a strong second-half result.

M&A activity has continued apace

I thought this bit was interesting:

The regulation of consumer credit introductions has moved from the OFT to the FCA. Our belief is that a number of competitors will not choose to seek full authorisation, affording increased opportunity for those which remain.

Outlook:
We continue carefully to expand whilst our business continues to grow organically. The sectors we operate in are buoyant, too. We expect to report a strong outcome for the year with the potential for further improvement once the recovery in mainland Europe materialises.

Stockopedia data puts the shares on a 2014 P/E of 15.4 with the prospect of a 1.6% yield. The AIM Prospector feature from March is here: http://issuu.com/aimprospector/docs/aimprospector_201403/c/s8u25dc

The deal is off for internet hosting business iomart (LON:IOM).
http://www.investegate.co.uk/iomart-group-plc--iom-/rns/response-to-host-announcement-and-trading-update/201409160700167458R/
Host Europe Holdings Ltd ("Host") ... does not intend to make a formal offer for iomart. Accordingly, iomart is no longer considered to be in an offer period

and a trading update to show shareholders that they are better off without a 285p offer:
Trading in the six months ending 30 September 2014 has…

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