Last Thursday, Caza Oil & Gas (CAZA.L) announced the result of the first development well at the Bone Spring well at the non-operated Marathon Road property and the initial test well on the operated East Marathon Road Property. The 3rd Bone Spring development well has been dug to an approximate depth of 15,625 feet. The production rates under the controlled flowback for the 15OB-1H has improved to 1,928 barrels of oil equivalent (bbloe) in 24 hours, comprising of 1,698 barrels (bbls) of oil and 1.38 million cubic feet (mcf) of gas. Further, data from the 1st and 2nd Bone Spring Sand intervals have also indicated the presence of oil and natural gas. The next horizontal 3rd Bone Spring well is scheduled to commence drilling operations from Q1 2015.

The market appears to be convinced that the Poundland (PLND.L) story will run forever. The recent spike in the Group’s share price has taken its rating to some 25x to 26x 2015 earnings – a multiple that suggests the Group operations are both high-quality and defensible, while offering long-term visibility of earnings. The reality is that this is asking just too much.

Whitbread (WTB.L) recently released its interim management statement for the 13 weeks to 27th November 2014. Total sales expanded 13.2%, with a like-for-like (LFL) growth of 6.4%. Costa led, with a total sales rise of 17% and 5.2% on an LFL basis. Premier Inn sales increased 15.4% with LFL sales widening by 8.5%. Hotels and restaurant segment too contributed with a growth of 11% in total sales. Year-to-date total sales growth stood at 13% whereas the LFL sales was recorded at 6.7%. Premier Inn reported a year to date rise of 14.9% in total sales and Costa recorded a growth of 16.9%. In the year-to-date, the company installed 623 Costa express machines and opened 2,177 UK rooms.

Weir Group (WEIR.L) is one of the world’s largest engineering companies, employing more than 15,000 people and operating in 70 countries. It focuses on providing engineering solutions to the minerals, oil and gas and power markets. Weir Group manufactures and supplies engineering products and services for mining and minerals processing, power generation, oil and gas production, water supply and other industrial uses including, supply pumps, valves, compressors and turbines. With a market value of £3.7 billion, Weir is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index on the London Stock Exchange.

Blur Group (BLUR.L) shares have been very severely punished over the past 12 months. The recent profit warning (19th November) seemed almost like the final straw. The revenue growth cited previously for 2014 now looks unlikely to appear until the opening months of 2015. Having had confidence wacked one more time, consensus forecasts have been cut across the three prospective years and now suggest that the first realistic opportunity for EBITDA breakeven will not appear until this time next year. So far, so bad!

Rambler Metals & Mining (RMM.L) is a copper-gold producer in Newfoundland, Canada – a stable and low risk jurisdiction. The company is cash flow positive with a solid unlevered balance sheet, with CA$8m.

Fox Marble (FOX.L) makes for a compelling investment. The concentration amongst mineral producers forced by international giants over the past 20 years or so has somehow passed the sector of dimensional stone (in this case marble and granite) miners by, to the extent that Fox Marble is presently the only dedicated vehicle quoted on an international stock exchange. Yet worldwide trade is estimated to be worth in excess of US$15bn annually, with an outlook for uninterrupted, long-term demand growth in a stable and progressive pricing environment.

The largest integrated estate agency and property services group in the United Kingdom, Countrywide (CWD.L) provides estate agency and letting services, financial services, agency for land and new homes, auctions, surveying, conveyancing and property management services. It employs around 11,300 people nationwide, working across 1,300 estate agency and lettings offices operating under more than 50 local high street brands, supplemented by 650 mortgage consultants who arranged over £4bn worth of mortgages in 2013. The high street brands include Hampton’s International and John D Wood. Countrywide is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250.

The Deutsche Bank CNX NIFTY ETF aims to track the performance of the Top 50 capitalised equities in the Indian stock market. The fund allows low cost exposure to one of the fasting growing emerging economies in the world, from the comfort of a listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) priced in Sterling. The ETF is extremely well diversified with 22 sectors accounted for within the Indian economy.

Capita is well-known as a leading provider of business process management and integrated professional support service solutions, with 64,000 staff across the UK, Europe, South Africa and India. The Company provides an integrated range of services including; customer services, human resource services, software services, systems and strategic support, and property services across the United Kingdom’s public and private sectors. Capita is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Advanced Oncotherapy yesterday took another important step forward! It announced that its relationship with the SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital had moved onto a formal, exclusive basis with respect to installing its first prototype LIGHT system in the highly-sought after area of Syracuse, Central New York State. As such, SUNY is set to become the Group’s US hub for research and development, manufacture and treatment using Advanced Oncotherapy’s next generation proton therapy technology for treating cancers. Together they will also develop a clinical training and sales facility on the same site, which could ultimately supply LIGHT machines to all of the Americas. Both parties are driven by a clear objective of delivering innovative and affordable proton therapy solutions to the Central New York area and look forward to seeing this strong partnership bear fruits for the benefits of patients and payors. Indeed, the exceptional level of interest in LIGHT that is now being expressed from all corners of the international medical fraternity, could even present the opportunity for a similar, parallel development elsewhere, most likely in Europe.

Having had deserved hits to the share price with successive profit-guidance misses, the current setback in BG Group is largely attributable to the near 40% fall in the oil price. Attempting to forecast the oil price may be regarded as foolhardy, but the product is so important in the global economy it is important to have a view on where the price is heading.