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Date: Tuesday 07 Oct 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Last night’s partial recovery on Wall Street is expected to send London up around 80 points this morning.

The Dow Jones closed almost 400 lower due to ongoing chaos in the global financial system, but losses had been more than double that at one stage.

Michael Page saw third quarter profit rise 14.6% to £141.4m, but the recruitment firm warned it will axe more staff during the final quarter of the year if market conditions continue to deteriorate. The group, which last month rejected a bid from Swiss Human Resources giant Adecco, said gross profit fell 8% in the UK, but improved by 19% and 35% in Asia-Pacific and the Americas respectively. At constant rates of exchange, group gross profit was up just 3.9%.

Ready meals group Northern Foods said although profits are weighted more towards the second half, at the half way stage, it remains on schedule to deliver pre-tax profits in line with expectations. Total revenue in the first half rose 6.5% and underlying revenue increased 3.9% on the prior year. Underlying revenue was driven by recovering input cost inflation through selling price increases averaging 5.6%, offsetting lower volumes of 1.7%.

Yellow Pages publisher Yell has agreed an amendment to its bank covenants with major banks that gives it more flexibility in tough conditions. The revised leverage and interest cover covenants have been set to give Yell 20% headroom against its forecasts. In consideration of this, the interest rate on the facilities will rise by 1% and a one-off amendment fee of 0.5% will be paid to consenting lenders.

Sausage maker Cranswick's like-for-like sales rose by 10% in the half year to September with higher selling prices offsetting raw material increases. "The sales performance has been strong with revenue increasing by 9%. This represents an increase of 10% on a like-for-like basis excluding the now sold animal feed business," Cranswick said. Raw material price inflation has been reflected in higher selling prices during the period. The cashflow from operating activities has remained strong, it added.

Kazakhmys has signed a memorandum of understanding with Samruk-Energy that will see the pair consider a strategic partnership and joint ownership of the Kazakhmys Power division. They expect a tie-up will bring benefits of access to additional coal resources and greater integration with Kazakhstan's energy development and transmission programmes.

Specialist thermal processing company Bodycote announced the appointment of former Spectris man Stephen Harris as chief executive. Harris will initially join the board on November 2008 and take over from John Hubbard, the current CEO, in the first quarter of 2009.

Enodis and The Manitowoc Company Inc have obtained US antitrust clearance in connection with Manitowoc's purchase of the UK catering equipment maker. Manitowoc agreed offered 328p in cash for Enodis in July, but US clearance only came when the pair agreed to divest Enodis' ice machine operations in the US following completion of the deal. The last day of dealings in Enodis shares is expected to be 24 October

Electronic tagging group Dmatek has confirmed it is in discussions over a potential offer for the company by LMS Capital. "Dmatek confirms that it is in discussions with LMS regarding such potential offer. There can be no assurance that any offer or transaction will eventually be made," it said in a statement.

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