Icap is fighting to restructure and survive. Hence the very positive market reaction on Tuesday when it announced that it would beat its target for cost savings. Far more important even, traders breathed a sigh of relief that it did not cut its dividend payment. Nevertheless, a 12 per cent revenue decline alongside pre-tax profits off by 20 per cent at 284m pounds shows how difficult it is to align costs with declining markets. In addition, there are pending regulatory changes the impact of which, positive or negative, is hard to discern. Icap has been dragged into the Libor scandal, and if found guilty, could face a fine of up to 25m dollars. The shares sell on about ten times earnings. "The yield of 6.5 per cent may look attractive, but, given the uncertainties, I would be in no mood to chase," The Times´s Tempus says.

Authorities attempts to create a challenger to the main established lending groups - RBS, Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC - are in a state of disarrray after Moody´s six notch downgrade of Co-op last week. Simply put, creating a large new lender is far more difficult and risky than many appreciate. In any case, the fact remains that the sector´s main players continue to dominate the current account market, of which they still possess over 70 per cent. The lesson to be drawn from the above may be that a bunch of focused, niche banks - such as Aldermore - could be a bigger threat to the big four banks than any Frankenstein-like creation which the government may try to spawn, says the FT´s Lex column.

Engineering outfit Invensys seems to have finally gotten its hands around its problematic pensions deficit, such that it is no longer a deterrent to would-be investors. In fact, should the company maintain its guidance for its pensions deficit steady - when it unveils its annual results - that may well clear the last remaining obstacle to a bid. In fact, once a premium is factored in then the bid price could reach about 4bn pounds - with Schneider Electric of France and America's Emerson thought to be the most likely suitors. Ironically, that would suffice to clean out said pensions liabilities. No surprise then that the company´s share price has doubled in the last twelve months, writes The Sunday Times´s Matthew Goodman.

FTSE 100 retail property developer Hammerson yesterday delivered a mixed trading update. However, the company does seem to have a good long-term strategy in place, of exiting the London office market in favour of local retail space, which - it must be said - goes against current received wisdom. To that one must add the strong pipeline of assets coming along. In fact, the company is forecasting earnings growth of 25% over the next three years. Nevertheless, the fact that it is now almost trading at its net asset value means that immediate progress may be limited.

Retailer Next is facing a "new normal," something which its Chief Executive, Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, describes as an environment where the shopper is careful with his or her money and retailers can no longer expect an automatic year-on-year rise in like-for-like sales. So much so in fact that analysts believe that a sales rise across the group of 2.2 per cent in the 14 weeks to last weekend masks an underlying fall of about 4.4 per cent. Nevertheless, the company continues to generate more than sufficient cash to continue with its current share buy-back policy. Those buybacks, and the prospect of special dividends, then, provide a strong support, and Next looks like one of the few retailers worth having in the present environment, The Times´s Tempus writes.

Despite the fact that the restructruing of National Express Group has already progressed far yesterday Dean Fitch announced an ambitious target to lower net debt to twice its earnings by the end of 2014. That can only further consolidate the company´s financial health, with fears of threats to its dividend now a thing of the past. However, despite the support offered by a 5 per cent dividend yield the company continues to face difficult conditions in the UK and a highly competitive enironment in the American Schools market. The shares are trading in the middle of their typical range (...) and selling on just under ten times' earnings. Nevertheless, while the yield is attractive, there isn't much else to go for, writes The Times´s Tempus.

BP's first quarter results beat analysts' expectations by 35 per cent driven by strong trading, lower costs and production of higher-margin barrels.

In spite of falling operating profits and production in its first quarter, oil and gas outfit BG Group still beat expectations with its results yesterday, according to the Tempus column in The Times.

The Tempus column in The Times has given a cautiously optimistic outlook for engineering firm Weir Group despite the company reporting a weak first quarter yesterday.

The Tempus column in The Times says that it's hard to avoid the suspicion that Imperial Tobacco and other tobacco producers are businesses in 'managed decline'.

While Aberdeen's first-half report sparked a share-price surged to an 11-year high on Monday, the Financial Times' Lex column says that the asset manager is not without its problems.

Internet fashion retailer ASOS is in fashion and will continue to be so for some time to come. Yes, the company´s latest trading statement - due out on Tuesday - is likely to show that gross margins suffered this past fall and winter as the outfit "invested" in more customer traffic via price reductions. Yet that is likely to turn out to have been "a pause to refresh," and it worked. Sales have shot up by a third over the last half-year. Thus, some analysts see the shares rising towards 40 pounds over the next couple of years as investments in its on-line presence in Russia and China pay off. As well, the shift towards its own-label products has proved to be a hit with customers. Further, ASOS has stregthened its management team with Kate Bostock, who´s coming on board from Marks&Spencer. "The outfit is on the right side of the online revolution. Buy," says The Sunday Times´s Danny Fortson.

In a letter dated April 12th, and seen by The Sunday Times, law firm Dechert alleges that ENRC - the FTSE 100 listed copper miner - engaged in several inappropriate actions, including "payments to African presidents" and $35m of misappropriated cash. The company has denied those claims. Dechert was discharged from the internal investigation after what ENRC labelled "inappropriate communications" with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the "unprofessional" handling of the investigation, claims Dechert denies. The law firm was fired a week before it was to update the SFO on its findings regarding the acquisition of three African companies.

With the motor market under a great deal of regulatory and political scrutiny, The Times' Tempus column has recommended investors to stay clear of Admiral following its 'unimpressive' trading statement on Thursday.

The terms of construction services group Kier´s buy-out offer for May Gurney appears to constitute a significant improvement on the Costain bid. It is 25 per cent larger and has a cash element worth 50p a share too. Further, a transaction would reduce the former´s dependency on construction while strengthening its product offering in the services space. As well, the transaction more than meets its target for return on capital employed. It very much looks like a "knock-out" offer. Nevertheless, "await developments," says The Telegraph´s Questor team.

There is something to be said for companies who manage to significantly outperform their peers, but not a whole lot when they are trading at 40 times´ forward earnings. That is the case of chip-maker ARM Holdings, who yesterday announced first quarter figures which came in comfortably ahead of analysts´ forecasts, particularly in terms of sales and order backlogs. Even so, "Not necessarily one to chase at this level," writes The Times´s Tempus.

Rangold Resources is different from many of its rivals. For example, it was not built through acquisitions, the grade of its gold reserves is actually improving and it has a strong balance sheet. Furthermore, while the price of gold may yet have further to fall quantitative easing and the devaluation of currencies means that the "yellow metal" should not be written off yet. Then there is the possibility of some M and A, not that Randgold needs it to keep growing. In any case, and despite the company's presence in politically volatile regions - such as Mali or the Democratic Republic of Congo - the fact is that fund manager Blackrock has used recent weakness in its share price to go bottom fishing, Buy, says The Telegraph's Questor team.