Yorkshire Water rose 30.5p to 457p.MSB International, the IT group related to Crystal Palace’s beleaguered chairman Mark Goldberg, slumped 52.5p to 172.5p after forecasting profits of pounds 11.5m which, it claimed, was in line with expectations.There was action among some of the smaller exploration and mining shares. Arcon International rose 1p to 13p as its Galmoy zinc mine in Ireland was given a projected 15 years life, up from 10 years, and Aminex held at 13p after raising pounds 700,000 via a placing.SEAQ VOLUME: 1.2bnSEAQ TRADES: 92.278GILTS: 115.68 -0.29TRADEPOINT, the little stock exchange, is heading west. The order driven, screen-based electronic market, has been given permission to operate in the US, the first foreign exchange to get into the US market. It is suggested that Tradepoint’s success is because the Americans were only prepared to accept a small group with little clout. Still, the shares rose 17.5p to 36p, a far cry from the 180p they once touched.SHERRY FITZGERALD, an Irish auctioneer and property agent embracing the country’s largest estate agency network, is coming to AIM and bringing with it the euro.The nominal value of its shares will be measured in euros – each will be 0.12 of the currency. The flotation price, presumably in Irish punts, has not been fixed but the group intends to raise IRpounds 3.5m The shares will be traded in London and Dublin.. ICELAND, the high street food retailer, trumpeted the vindication of its strategy of putting “the heart before the head” yesterday when it posted a double-digit increase in sales for the second successive year.

The group said successful experiments with home deliveries, coupled with a high-profile stance on genetically modified foods, had contributed to a 12 per cent increase in “same condition” sales in the year to January – three times the level of its nearest rival, Tesco.
Shares rose 3.6 per cent to 283.5p on the back of a 27 per cent increase in profits at Iceland, which until two years ago was thought to be nearing the end of its shelf life.Malcolm Walker, chairman and chief executive and the founder of the chain, said the jump in sales was the fruit of a series of intuitive decisions, against the grain of conventional retail wisdom.”We invented home delivery. We were the first to offer telephone shopping in this country and we are the only provider. We banned GM products when the rest of the industry was dithering – and I still take personal credit for coining the phrase `Frankenstein food’,” he said.Once regarded as a retailer specialising in frozen food at bargain prices, Iceland struggled to compete in the early 1990s as Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda lured customers away to out-of-town superstores.Its shares underperformed the market and the sector for five years, hitting a nadir in late 1996 when they languished at less than 80p. It was at that point that Mr Walker decided on a radical change of strategy.The first initiative, home delivery, was introduced in 1997 It showed instant results.

Iceland’s four million customers could have their shopping delivered to their home, at no charge, after selecting items at a store. Home deliveries, now costing pounds 1, represent 11 per cent of Iceland’s sales – and the service is growing in popularity.Iceland has also been helped by key management changes, with the appointment of Russell Ford as trading director and Andrew Pritchard as group finance director. Bernard Leigh, the deputy chairman, will retire this year.Mr Ford has pushed through changes to Iceland’s style, eschewing price competition in favour of “pulse-racing deals”, such as two chickens for the price of one. Staff have been asked to be more informal, joking with customers to separate themselves from the drab formality of the superstores.An ethical stance on GM foods – guaranteeing no genetic modification – was worth millions in publicity value. After much hand-wringing, the superstores announced similar policies earlier this month. Iceland is also leading a campaign for “honest labelling” – avoiding practices such as including the giblets in the weight of the chicken.Analysts yesterday welcomed the results, which came in ahead of expectations with pre-tax profit at pounds 55.1m.

They point out that Iceland is trading at a 35 per cent discount to the market.At a time when Iceland looks much more robust than its competitors, the shares are on similar forward multiples of around 14 According to Merrill Lynch, Iceland’s shares look cheap.. MORSE, the reseller of powerful computer servers, yesterday made a cautious debut on the London Stock Exchange after setting its flotation price at the lower end of the pricing range. Morse shares, which were placed with institutional investors at 250p each, rose 2p to 252p in conditional dealings. Morse had planned to price the shares, which do not start trading fully until next Tuesday, at between 250p and 300p.
Analysts said the flotation had been hampered by signs of a slowdown in the computer market in the United States, fears of a second-half slowdown in the UK, and the poor performance of Synstar, the computer services group, after its flotation last month.However, observers said the low price attached to Morse shares meant that they were likely to perform well in the next year.As a result of the lower price, 3i and PPM Ventures, Morse’s venture capital backers, decided to hold on to more of their shares. Some fund managers had complained that the investors were selling too large a stake.At a share price of 250p Morse is valued at pounds 305.7m. The flotation raised pounds 60m in new money for the company, which it will use to pay down debt and help fund its recent acquisition of a minority stake in Partner System, a French reseller.Duncan McIntyre, the chief executive, said the group’s main priority was to use its position as the leading reseller of Sun Microsystems servers to expand its operations in France and Germany.”We want to become a European company and start exploiting our services business, which is currently only 5 per cent of revenues,” he said.Analysts said Morse is more vulnerable to fluctuations in demand than services groups, which tend to have stable order books.However, they pointed out that, on a multiple of 23 times earnings for the year to last June, the shares look an attractive prospect..

CRODA INTERNATIONAL yesterday became the latest chemical company to unveil a slump in profits due to dire markets and the strength of the pound. The fall in profits came as Croda announced it would close several non- core operations, with job losses likely, in a bid to reduce costs. The company declined to name the plants earmarked for closure but said the measures would cost pounds 8m and yield annual savings of pounds 4m from 2001.
The speciality chemicals group reported a 12 per cent fall in 1998 pre- tax profits before exceptionals to pounds 33m, on sales marginally higher at pounds 354.9m. The figures were depressed by an pounds 18m exceptional loss on the disposal of three businesses, leading to an overall profit figure of just pounds 14m, down 64 per cent on 1997. The disappointing figures forced Croda to leave the dividend unchanged at 10.35p.The chairman Keith Hopkins said the results had been severely affected by the difficult trading conditions in many key markets. A collapse in demand in the financially-stricken Far East caused a profit shortfall in Croda’s industrial chemicals division, which produces paints, inks and fire-fighting products.The company’s core speciality chemicals division, which supplies high- technology products to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics companies, was also hit by lower Asian demand, with sales in the region down 15 per cent.