UK SMALLER COMPANIES
Fishermen tenacious in the face of change After many difficult years investment and diversification sees the fishing sector look to calmer wat
Small-cap week: Coms surges on Smith share deal Internet telephone service provider gains 168% after chief executive of MXC Capital increases stake
Plus Markets starts looking for buyers The Aim-quoted bourse, which is home to some 159 companies, has experienced continuing losses and dw
Small caps: Porvair buoyed by profits surge Company sales bolstered by solid performance of its higher-margin metal filtration division
Cluff Gold lifted by Burkina Faso expansion The miner will buy a second site and exploration permits from Canadian developer Orezone Gold Corpor
Pubs bank on food, not beer, to grow Last year pub chains outperformed restaurants by approximately 2 per cent most months as hard-up con
Facebook backers take stake in Zalando German online clothing retailer secures investment from Yuri Milner’s DST and the Samwer brothers

WORLD FINANCIAL NEWS
Greece takes step closer to default Officials say government and troika are ‘quite far apart’ on wage and pension reductions
Europe sees surge in clean power Seventy one per cent of all the new power generating capacity fitted in the EU last year came from s
US tax evasion hangs over Swiss banks Eleven Swiss banks face questions over US investigation with the decision to accept business after t
Iran softens line on cutting oil to Europe Iran has indicated that its threat to cut oil supplies to European states in order to pre-empt an EU
Europe’s banks face challenge on capital According to one person close to the process, as much as half of the measures outlined in those plan
Mining magnates eye Australia’s media As natural resources have become the engine of the economy, there is a new force with the potential
Italy’s manufacturers find ‘small is good’ no more The debt crisis and fiscal austerity are forcing business chiefs to rethink strategy

UK MARKETS
Small-cap week: Coms surges on Smith share deal Internet telephone service provider gains 168% after chief executive of MXC Capital increases stake
Unilever agrees to return to negotiations Unilever feels the ‘time is right’ to see if Acas can help resolve the dispute after it closed its f
Small-caps: Game bounces back Agreement with lenders lifts troubled retailer while brewer Fuller’s rises after announcing the purc
Bakrie vehicle moves to oust Rothschild from Bumi Dramatic move is a setback for the UK financier, who had pledged to clean up corporate governance at
Chartists have a cross to bear Analysts’ favourite is little help in spotting trends, says David Schwartz
Broadband take-up boosts BT earnings Pension deficit widens £1.6bn, but pre-tax profit for third quarter is up 48% at the UK telecoms gro
RBS fights Libor dismissal claim by trader Bank says former Singapore employee was guilty of gross misconduct for ‘improperly influencing’ rate