Social housing firm Connaught has denied press speculation about a bid but Panmure Gordon is not surprised at the bid speculation as the 'business is attractive'.

Results from Homebase and Argos owner Home Retail Group 'posted a mixed but incrementally positive fourth quarter update' according to Numis Securities, but the broker thinks the group will be 'challenged to make progress in 2010/11.'

Funeral group Dignity's shares have jumped by just 10% the past year, suggesting they are fairly valued, trading on a 2010 price-to-earnings ratio of 15.5 times.

A round-up of the biggest director deals today so far.

Home Retail Group is among the stocks lifting the retail sector.

Patience is a virtue, points out Morgan Stanley as it keeps its 'overweight' rating and 1,500p target price on oil explorer Tullow.

Aviation and newspaper distributor John Menzies should be re-rated after getting debt to more acceptable levels and re-introducing the dividend, says JP Morgan.

Pub owner JD Wetherspoon's interim results were 6% ahead of broker Panmure Gordon's forecasts, due to a lower net finance charge.

Patience is a virtue, points out Morgan Stanley as it keeps its 'overweight' rating and 1,500p target price on oil explorer Tullow.

Joint broker Investec — which is not pencilling-in a dividend for the foreseeable future — believes that Inchcape's pre-tax profits will rise to £165 million this year, putting the shares on a multiple of just over 11 times. That feels a little rich for a motor retailer. Even if you applied it to Investec's ambitious earnings target of £215 million pre-tax in 2012, that only gets us to a longer-term share price of about 35p. At 28¼p, pass, says the Times.

Supermarket chain Wm Morrison publishes figures without a chief executive as incoming CEO Dalton Philips isn't due to fill the hot seat until later this month.

A round-up of the biggest director deals today so far.

Strong results from Melrose help lift the industrial engineering sector higher.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has mulled over the record numbers announced by oil and gas plant provider Petrofac and determined that they warrant an upgrade in the broker's rating of the stock.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has mulled over the record numbers announced by oil and gas plant provider Petrofac and determined that they warrant an upgrade in the broker's rating of the stock.

Nomura has raised its 2011-2012 earnings forecasts for Inmarsat after the satellite operator's strong fourth quarter results, though the upgrade was largely to reflect the strengthening of the US dollar against the pound.

Goldman Sachs has put its rating and price target on Shanks under review after the waste group ended talks with private equity group Carlyle about a possible offer.