YP75: Market sees slight gain as gold soars to reach an all-time high

Fusion IP started the week with the release of preliminary results. The Sheffield based company owns the rights to 100 per cent of university owned research generated from Cardiff University and The University of Sheffield. The pre-tax loss in the 12 months up to July 31 was 1.6m compared with 5m the previous year. The company stated that it remains confident that it will be able to exit companies at a good price when the time is right which helped the shares gain over the week.

On Tuesday, Communisis, the Leeds based marketing services provider, announced news of a new contract. The company stated it had signed a three year managed service contract with National Air Traffic Services, the UK's air traffic control organisation. Under the contract the National Air Traffic Services will draw skills from Intelligence Driven Communications and Specialist Print Sourcing, both parts of Communisis broad service offering. No financial details regarding the contract were revealed and the company share price fell slightly over the course of the week.

Avacta Group, the York based drug research and analysis company, said it had completed a research collaboration with the Japanese company Takeda Pharmaceutical. Curidium Medica which Avacta Group bought in 2009 entered a research deal with Takeda in 2007 with the aim of tailoring drugs for people with depression by identifying groups of patients with particular genetic or biological characteristics. Avacta Group said it had discovered such patient subgroups but didn't give any further details. It said the discovery of these subgroups validates its Homomatrix technology and will help Curidium expand its activities.

Wakefield based Redhall Group, an engineering support services group operating in energy, defence and process sectors updated the market indicating that it had now received acceptances from 2.32 million Mount Engineering shareholders. This represents 9.87 per cent of the companies' shares and the offer has now lapsed.

Spice a provider of outsourced utility support services, said that Freedom, its electricity business in its distribution division, has extended its contract with EDF Energy for the maintenance of building and civil assets to the end of 2015. No financial details were disclosed with regard to the contract extension.

Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of investments can fall and you could receive less than you invested. If you have any doubts about this investment you should consult an authorised financial advisor. The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily the views held throughout Brewin Dolphin Ltd. No employee of Brewin Dolphin Ltd accepts liability for any loss arising from this document or its contents.

Adrian Wasson, Assistant Investment Manager at Brewin Dolphin, Leeds