PRESS DIGEST - British business - Jan 5

The Times

TIDDLER TO WATCH

Shares in Afren (AFRE.L) rose seven pence to 115 pence after broker Jeffries raised its target price to 129 pence with a "buy" recommendation. The company, which explores for oilfields in Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville, says it is about to become a producer and will begin production from a field off Nigeria early in the second quarter of this year.

DEAL OF THE DAY

Shares in Cape (CIU.L) rose 11 pence on Friday to 243.5 pence after its chief executive Martin May bought 5,000 shares in the company at 245.8 pence each when the gas, oil and mining support services company said profits would beat market expectations. Numis has upgraded its recommendation for Cape from "add" to "buy" with a 366 pence target price.

BET OF THE DAY

Marks & Spencer's (MKS.L) will give its Christmas sales update on Wednesday. Shares in the retailer, which lost 24.5 pence on Friday, have fallen from 670 pence to 518 pence since October. Goldman Sachs has tipped the company as a winner but Citigroup is less sure. Cantor Index is offering a March contract-related spread of 532.5 pence to 535.6 pence.

The Daily Telegraph

SSE BUYS IRISH WIND POWER FIRM AIRTRICITY

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE.L) has agreed to purchase the Irish wind power company Airtricity in a deal worth 1.6 billion pounds. The Scottish energy company is paying around one billion euros for Airtricity equity and will assume 375 million euros in debt. Scottish and Southern Energy will also pay 746.5 million euros in cash for the proceeds that have come from the sale of Airtricity's wind farms in the United States. Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have provided the debt.

EMI STILL HITS WRONG NOTES IN U.S.

According to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, EMI saw its shares of U.S. album sales fall by over eight percent last year as releases from artists such as Joss Stone and Kylie Minogue failed to improve the company's position. The British record company now has less than a 10th of the all-important album category. EMI fared little better in catalogue albums, with a market share fall of 6.2 percent. However, the company saw an eight percent improvement in its share of digital U.S. album sales. Terra Firma, EMI's private equity owner, is about to inform staff of its new strategy for the company and analysts say that it needs to capture more of the booming digital market.

LAND OF LEATHER STRUGGLES DESPITE ADVERTISING BLITZ

Land of Leather LAN.L has said annual profits will fall well below expectations despite unprecedented levels of price-cutting at its stores. The company bought almost 200 hours of prime-time Christmas television advertising but this failed to draw customers to its biggest New Year sale. Two weeks ago Land of Leather said it expected to sell over 300,000 sofas on Boxing Day. But the group has revealed turnover for the first nine days of the sale fell significantly below expectations. Shares closed at 59 pence, down 48 percent.

The Guardian

CORAL CALLS TIME ON FIVE GALA BINGO HALLS