Rentokil initial, Premier Oil, Chemring, CSR, Stagecoach, Cobham, Westminster Group, Sky High

In its first quarter report, pest control group Rentokil that in spite of challenging trading conditions, its earnings climbed 3.6 percent to £624.4 million in the first quarter of the year.

However, adjusted operating profits declined 10.5 percent compared with the same period of 2011 to £33.3 million, largely due to an 18.7 percent increase in losses to £12.7 million at the group’s struggling City Link parcel delivery business.

The textiles

At the textiles and hygiene division, profits rose 7.6 percent to £32.5 million, during the pest control business saw its profit decline 7.4 percent to £18.9 million.

Chipmaker CSR, as well a constituent of the FTSE 250 index, said earnings in the March quarter reached US$227 million, up from US$163.9 million a year before including a contribution of US$73.2 million from its US business Zoran, which was acquired in August last year.

Second quarter earnings are expected to reach between US$245 and US$265 million, during the group remains on track to achieve cost savings of US$130 million by the end of the second quarter.

"We have had a good quarter with revenue ahead of management guidance driven by strength in our long-term growth engines of voice & music, automotive and location platforms," said CSR chief executive Joep van Beurden.

Other news in the FTSE 250 included Stagecoach’s announcement of an alliance with Network Rail to provide rail services in the south and south-west of England.

Moving to small caps, healthcare and business software group Advanced Computer Software is beefing up its cloud computing and managed services operations with the acquisition of Fabric Technologies for £4.6 million cash.

Fabric has about 160 UK mid-market clients in banking and other professional services sectors and offers outsourced managed services and implementation and communications services.

ACS said the deal would be right away earnings enhancing as Fabric has strong recurring earnings, during it would as well strengthen its managed services division and gives cross-selling opportunities.

Meanwhile, closely followed innovation investor ANGLE has made what it calls a major breakthrough in the design of the cancer cell screener developed by its Parsortix subsidiary.