Avacta Group Plc (LON:AVCT) (AVCT, 0.705p, £10.12m) has appointed Isogen Life Science (ISL) as a distributor for the Optim 1000, its ultra low volume protein analysis system. ISL is an established distributor of instruments, reagents and consumables in the cell biology, molecular biology and biochemistry areas in Europe. ISL has already place an order for one Optim 1000, taking the total to 5, with a number of active sales leads. Avacta management has stated it expects to meet its sales target for the year. We maintain our SPECULATIVE BUY recommendation.

Avingtrans Plc (LON:AVG) (AVG, 42.5p £10.83m) has been chosen for precision machined formers for Siemens’ next gen Magnetic Resonance Imaging Systems. The order will build to full production in 2012 when it will be worth some £5m annually (significant in comparison with the £27m annualised turnover run rate reported at the interims. We move from a sell to a HOLD to reflect the increasing percentage of precision and thus higher margin manufacture with the hope of profits next year.  

Bond International Software (LON:BDI) (BDI, 54.0p, £17.86m) the software provider for international recruitment and human resources industries reports a disappointing trading update for the 6 months to 30 June 2010. The group anticipate minimum revenues of £15.1m, pre-tax losses of £0.68m and adjusted EPS of 1.34p. Net debt at the end of June stood at £4.6m (FY09: £3.0m). The weaker than expected recovery in the staffing software has led to slower than anticipated software sales. The group has taken action to reduce overheads to offset the reduction in sales. Recurring revenues remained stable and is set to increase. If the group continues to trade at the current levels for the remainder of the financial year, the group will be trading below current market expectations of PBT of £4.4m, EPS of 9.3p and DPS of 1.8p. We expect the remainder of the year to remain challenging, with customers increasing their caution in expenditure in the face of uncertainty. We expect the market to downgrade estimates.  Assuming H1: H2 earnings split is 42%: 58%, we estimate an EPS of 3.2p in 2010. Based on the latter, the stock trades on a 2010 prospective PER of 16.9x, an unwarranted premium to software sector which trades on 9.4x. We have been seller of the stock since September 2009 when the share price was 91.5p. The share price has…

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