YP75: Europe suffers backlash for Greece's economic crisis

Meanwhile, rumours spread that the UK's very own AAA rating was in danger of being cut on budget deficit concerns and fears of a hung parliament. Meanwhile, Greece agreed to a host of austerity measures, including a three-year pay freeze for all public sector workers, in an effort to cut the budget deficit by about e24bn over the next three years.

Croda International, the company which manufactures chemicals for the healthcare sector and cosmetics industry, has reported a strong increase in group sales for the first quarter. The company has seen robust sales in both Personal Care and Health Care and managed to overcome adverse currency conversion to increase overall sales to 130m.

The group has also seen pre-tax profit for the first quarter double to 42.4m as a result of overall volumes increasing 26 per cent. The company, whose clients include Proctor & Gamble and Este Lauder, continues to perform strongly and comfortably beat consensus forecasts for both divisions. While management are confident of achieving significant progress throughout the remainder of 2010, they remain cautious over the risk of raw material inflation in the second half of the year.

Elsewhere, a share placing to the value of 36.3m, by Fenner, has allowed the company to proceed with the purchase of three small businesses involved in the servicing of conveyor belts and medical applications for polymer technology.

The company announced the cash-raising in conjunction with a sharp rise in first-year pre-tax profit, to 12.1m.

The Hessle-based company continues to see an improvement in trading as volumes begin to return to more normal levels.

While the significant cost-saving programme is starting to prove beneficial, the company's outlook continues to appear difficult as demand in the construction sector is not recovering, according to CEO Mark Abrahams.

Consumer confidence in the retail sector is back to levels seen at the start of 2008, according to William Morrison Supermarkets.

Following the recent appointment of Dalton Philips as chief executive, the Bradford-based company have announced his basic salary will be in the region of 800,000 and he could earn up to 6.1m in the first year – based on his performance.

Having recently announced that full-year profits are likely to miss previous guidance, utility support services group Spice has eased pressures on its debt with the sale of its telecoms business for 32.3m.

The proceeds will be used directly to reduce the company's debt level while the sale will result in focus now turning towards the company's supply and utilities distribution business.

Edward RH MarsdenAssistant Investment Manager at Brewin Dolphin, Leeds