The Federal Trade Commission’s allegations were that the shoe company created advertisements for its toning footwear, such as the Shape-up line, with unsupported claims.

Flight simulation and training company CAE (TSE:CAE)(NYSE:CAE) said Wednesday it has acquired privately-held airline pilot training company Oxford Aviation Academy in a deal pegged at $314 million.

The move will bolster CAE’s training centre footprint and flight training network, the Montreal-based company said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was targeted in two separate investor lawsuits Wednesday which accused the bank and its management of excessive risk that led to trading losses of at least $2 billion.

Late last week, the Wall Street bank unveiled its $2 billion loss, pinpointed to a trader in London dubbed "The Whale". JPMorgan now expects to lose $800 million within the corporate/private equity segment, down from prior guidance of net income of $200 million.

J.C. Penney Company (NYSE:JCP) saw its shares plummet more than 16 percent on Wednesday, a day after the department store retailer reported it swung to a loss as customers failed to adapt to its new pricing strategy.

The results also prompted the company to discontinue its 20 cent per share quarterly dividend in order to generate cash savings of roughly $175 million on an annual basis. The company hopes to use this cash to fund its transformation plan.

Big box retailer Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) said Wednesday fiscal first-quarter profit grew 1.2 percent aided by revenue growth of almost six percent as people spent more at its stores.

Net earnings rose to $697 million, or $1.04 per share, on $16.86 billion in revenue in the latest quarter that ended April 28.

Farm equipment maker Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE) Wednesday posted a 17 percent jump in profits for its fiscal second-quarter as it is raised its outlook for the full year.

For the period ended April 30, net income came in at $1.056 billion, or $2.61 per share, compared with $904.3 million, or $2.12 a share a year ago. Net sales rose to $9.4 billion from $8.33 billion a year earlier.

ValueVision Media (NASDAQ:VVTV) narrowed its first-quarter loss, despite posting a drop in quarterly revenue on lower consumer electronic sales.

The Minnesota-based company sells everything from jewellery, consumer electronics, home furnishing and nutritional supplements, among other things.

Medical device maker Abiomed (NASDAQ:ABMD) swung to a fourth quarter profit thanks to 31 percent growth in revenue and higher margins. Net income was $2.56 million, or six cents a share, compared with a net loss of $1.77 million, or five cents a share, a year-prior.

THQ (NASDAQ:THQI), the publisher of the "Saints Row: The Third" video game, late Tuesday posted a wider fiscal fourth-quarter loss following a disastrous dropoff in sales during the holiday shopping season.

For the period ended March 31, THQ said its loss widened to $53.2 million from $44.1 million a year earlier. Net revenue grew nearly 47 percent to $184.2 million from $124.2 million a year earlier.

Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS), the largest U.S. office supply chain, Wednesday posted lower-than-expected fiscal first-quarter sales, hurt by weakness in international markets.

For the period ended April 28, Staples said net income fell 5.6 percent to $187.1 million, or 27 cents per share, from $198.2 million, or 28 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding items, the company earned 30 cents per share.

Apache Corp. (NASDAQ:APA) reported Wednesday an extension well saw initial production rates higher than any oil well drilled in the Beryl Field in the U.K. North Sea since 2001.

Drilled as a deviated well, B72 logged a total of 619 feet measured depth of net oil pay in three Jurassic aged reservoir units.

GeoMet (NASDAQ:GMET) shares plunged Wednesday after it said it expects a borrowing-base deficiency due to low natural-gas prices, and reported it swung to a first-quarter loss on non-cash charges.

Shares of the energy company were down 27.7 percent to 28 cents late Wednesday afternoon, as the company said it is negotiating with its bank group to address a borrowing-base deficiency that will exist at the pending June determination.

Gold explorer Metanor Resources (CVE:MTO) Wednesday provided an update to its exploration work at the Bachelor Lake project.

From the results announced today, Metanor hit 26.36 grams per tonne (g/t) over 4.08 metres in drill hole 13-001. It also intersected 17.24 g/t over 5.64 metres in drill hole 15-005.

Northern Vertex Mining Corp. (CVE:NEE) (OTCQX:NHVCF) unveiled Wednesday drill results from its phase II, 6,500 metre (20,000 ft) infill and resource expansion program at its Moss gold-silver project in Mohave County, northwestern Arizona.

Latin American Minerals (CVE:LAT) Wednesday initiated a second drill campaign at the Tacuru gold target on its Paso Yobai property, in Asuncion, Paraguay.

The company also announced the start of a second operating shift at the Independencia mine pilot plant, which also forms part of the Paso Yobai gold project.

Sage Gold (CVE:SGX) announced Wednesday that is has executed a $1.0 million principal amount convertible debt financing, and the first tranche of a private placement for $403,500.

Ottawa-based TrueContext Mobile Solutions (CVE:TMN) announced Wednesday that its ProntoForms mobile business app now fully supports the Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 operating system, for such devices as the Nokia Lumia 900 from AT&T (NYSE:T).

Cayden Resources (CVE:CYD) Wednesday identified "significant gold" in a soil anomaly at its La Magnetita deposit at its Morelos Sur Project in Mexico.

Minera IRL (LON:MIRL, CVE:IRL) said its Don Nicolas gold-silver project in Argentina has reached another major milestone as the permitting process has now started.

The company told investors today that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) has now been completed and presented to the secretary of mining of the Santa Cruz province of Argentina, marking the start of the permitting process.

The move will bolster CAE’s training centre footprint and flight training network, the Montreal-based company said.

Canadian Zinc Corp. (TSE:CZN) narrowed its first-quarter loss, but also said Wednesday that capital costs for its Prairie Creek mine will be higher due to new features and cost inflation.

The junior explorer narrowed its loss to $2.53 million from the year-ago net loss of $14.24 million for the three months ended March 31.

Black Iron (TSE:BKI) said Tuesday that assay results from five additional infill drill holes at its Shymanivske project in Ukraine continue to confirm thick iron bands with grades well past 30 percent iron.

The iron ore explorer said that hole BISH-9 intersected 104.3 metres grading 32.7 percent iron including 56.7 metres grading 34.1 percent iron.

Birchcliff Energy (TSE:BIR) said Wednesday that in the face of low natural gas prices, posting earnings "is a testament" to its "very low cost of operations."

The Calgary-based company posted earnings of $3.7 million or three cents per share for the first quarter of 2012, down 61 percent from $9.6 million or eight cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Extorre Gold Mines (TSE:XG) (AMEX:XG) said Wednesday it was “encouraged by many of the early results” as it intersected more high-grade drill targets at its Cerro Moro project in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina.

Department store Sears Canada (TSE:SCC) said it swung to a first-quarter profit on Wednesday thanks to a $164.3 million pre-tax gain from lease terminations.

The company posted a profit of $93.1 million, or 91 cents per share, in contrast with the year-earlier net loss of $47 million, or 45 cents a share.

Tethys Petroleum (LON:TPL, TSE:TPL) has increased the resource estimate for its Kazakhstan assets to 1.17 billion barrels of oil.

Shares of the energy company were down 27.7 percent to 28 cents late Wednesday afternoon, as the company said it is negotiating with its bank group to address a borrowing-base deficiency that will exist at the pending June determination.

For the quarter that ended March 31, first-quarter net loss was $52.9 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of $451,000. On a per-share basis, the latest quarter's loss widened to $1.37 a share from a year-earlier loss of 3 cents a share.

The company noted that the most recent loss included a $47.4 million charge to provide a full valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, a $9.8 million net impairment charge and a $3.2 million net unrealized gain on derivative contracts.

The year-ago period included a $1.8 million loss on derivatives, net of tax.

Adjusted net income for the most recent first quarter decreased to $0.9 million from $2.2 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to increased depletion, partially offset by increased realized hedging gains, the company said.

Total revenue rose by 29 percent to $10.2 million, from $7.85 million in the year ago quarter.
According to Thomson Reuters, analysts had expected earnings of two cents on revenue of $16.89 million.

"As a result of the current low gas price environment, we expect a borrowing base deficiency," said president and CEO William C. Rankin.

"Due to these factors, we incurred significant non-cash charges which adversely impacted our results for the quarter and our balance sheet resulting in disclosures related to going concern risks.

"However, despite the lowest natural gas prices in a decade, the company recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of adjusted net income."

The average natural gas price, adjusted for cash settlements of natural gas derivative contracts, was $4.82 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), versus $6.17 per Mcf for the prior year quarter.

Average net gas sales volumes were approximately 39.9 million cubic feet (MMcf) per day, a 97 percent increase from the same quarter in 2011.

Of this increase, 93 percent was due to the newly acquired gas properties, said the company.

“Cash generation was in line with our expectations for the quarter largely as a result of our hedging strategy and our effective control of costs,” said Rankin.

"The Vitruvian acquisition [in Texas] completed in November of last year doubled our production and lowered our cash breakeven point per Mcf by approximately 30 percent."

"We face significant challenges but are continuing to meet all of our obligations on a timely basis," said Rankin.

"The company has hedged more than 80 percent of estimated sales volumes for the last three quarters of 2012 and for all of 2013 at levels well above the current NYMEX forward natural gas price curve."

Regarding the borrowing deficiency, the company said it expects to “resolve this matter in a manner acceptable to the company but can provide no assurances of such at this time."

GeoMet is an energy company primarily engaged in the exploration for and development and production of natural gas from coal seams and non-conventional shallow gas.

Its principal operations and producing properties are located in the Cahaba and Black Warrior Basins in Alabama and the Central Appalachian Basin in Virginia and West Virginia.

The company also controls additional coalbed methane and oil and gas development rights, principally in Alabama, British Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Presentations at the Ivey ING Direct Leadership Centre located at 130 King Street West will commence at 5:30 pm and will conclude at 7:00 pm. After the presentations, the directors will be available to take questions during a free canapé and wine reception.

Registration is available online at the link below:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/register/event_details/73

Canadian Quest Rare Minerals is joining us, and has recently appeared in a feature of the Globe and Mail, which lauded the Canadian miner for appearing closer than most to becoming a major player in heavy rare earths.

Quest says its Strange Lake Deposit in Northern Quebec could supply as much as 10 per cent of global demand for rare earths once it is up and running, and as much as 30 percent of demand for the more pricey heavy rare earths.

The company is currently advancing the Strange Lake and Misery Lake areas of northeastern Quebec. Quest's 2009 exploration led to the discovery of the significant rare earth metal deposit, the B-Zone, on its Strange Lake property.

The B-Zone deposit is one of the largest heavy rare earth resources in the world and is exposed at surface and amenable to a low-cost open pit mine. It has the potential to provide a long-term, stable supply of separated and refined heavy rare earths.

Quest released this week what it called "extremely encouraging" metallurgical test results from its B-Zone deposit, producing a zirconium and rare earth concentrate.

Dundee Capital Markets recently said Strange Lake was one of the top six rare earth projects outside China. The company intends to commission Strange Lake in 2016 with production beginning in 2017.

Our next speaker, Orko Silver Corp, is developing one of the world’s largest primary silver deposits in La Preciosa, located near the city of Durango, in Durango State, Mexico.

Orko last updated that the company is "one step closer" to mining its 100% owned La Preciosa project, after a Preliminary Mineability Assessment (PMA) concluded mining could be done at the site.

Orko said the results of the PMA cover both open pit and underground mining options that were presented in its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) released by the company and its former partner Pan American Silver Corp., in mid-August, 2011.

The August 2011 PEA gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. A new independent AMEC-authored PEA is anticipated in August or September.

Finally, we will be joined by REBgold Corp, who has recently confirmed a new high grade gold discovery at the Rantasalmi gold property, in Finland. Rantasalmi is a joint venture between REBgold and Belvedere Resources (CVE:BEL).

The company also recently announced plans to issue up to 5 million units to new and existing shareholders, each comprising one common share and one warrant, in order for the proceeds to be used to fund its projects in Finland.

The funds will help expand the drill program at Rantasalmi, where there are numerous targets along strike and down dip from existing resources and other areas of identified mineralization.

The latest drilling continues to increase the potential for Osikonmaki East to become a significant gold deposit.

Every intersection into the new eastern hanging-wall zone has yielded greater than 100 gram metres, displaying potential for both high grade and bulk tonnage mineralization.

And in Vancouver on Thursday May 24, directors of Timmins Gold Corp (TSE:TMM), and Orko Silver Corp (CVE:OK) will be speaking at the Proactive Investors One2One Investor Forum, at the Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver Room on the second floor, on 645 Howe Street.

Presentations start at 1:30 pm local time, and end at 3:00 pm, after which the directors will be available to take questions, with a free canapés and a wine reception to follow.

Registration is available online at the link below:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/register/event_details/75

Timmins Gold Corp is in commercial gold production, generating revenue from its San Francisco gold mine in Sonora, Mexico.

The company recently declared for its fiscal first quarter that ended March 31, 2012, production of 21, 532 gold ounces, and 11,740 ounces of silver.

Timmins said this increased production was achieved even after four days of downtime due to the completion of the first part of a three-stage capacity improvement program that is meant to take the mine to throughput of 32,000 tons per day (tpd) of processed ore, and annual production of 130,000 ounces of gold beginning in 2013.

In late 2011, Timmins Gold published a technical report projecting total gold production at San Francisco of 810,065 ounces from 2011 to 2017, with average annual production seen at approximately 130,000 ounces of gold from 2012 to 2017.

Presentations at the Ivey ING Direct Leadership Centre located at 130 King Street West will commence at 5:30 pm and will conclude at 7:00 pm. After the presentations, the directors will be available to take questions during a free canapé and wine reception.

Registration is available online at the link below:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/register/event_details/73

Canadian Quest Rare Minerals is joining us, and has recently appeared in a feature of the Globe and Mail, which lauded the Canadian miner for appearing closer than most to becoming a major player in heavy rare earths.

Quest says its Strange Lake Deposit in Northern Quebec could supply as much as 10 per cent of global demand for rare earths once it is up and running, and as much as 30 percent of demand for the more pricey heavy rare earths.

The company is currently advancing the Strange Lake and Misery Lake areas of northeastern Quebec. Quest's 2009 exploration led to the discovery of the significant rare earth metal deposit, the B-Zone, on its Strange Lake property.

The B-Zone deposit is one of the largest heavy rare earth resources in the world and is exposed at surface and amenable to a low-cost open pit mine. It has the potential to provide a long-term, stable supply of separated and refined heavy rare earths.

Quest released this week what it called "extremely encouraging" metallurgical test results from its B-Zone deposit, producing a zirconium and rare earth concentrate.

Dundee Capital Markets recently said Strange Lake was one of the top six rare earth projects outside China. The company intends to commission Strange Lake in 2016 with production beginning in 2017.

Our next speaker, Orko Silver Corp, is developing one of the world’s largest primary silver deposits in La Preciosa, located near the city of Durango, in Durango State, Mexico.

Orko last updated that the company is "one step closer" to mining its 100% owned La Preciosa project, after a Preliminary Mineability Assessment (PMA) concluded mining could be done at the site.

Orko said the results of the PMA cover both open pit and underground mining options that were presented in its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) released by the company and its former partner Pan American Silver Corp., in mid-August, 2011.

The August 2011 PEA gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. A new independent AMEC-authored PEA is anticipated in August or September.

Finally, we will be joined by REBgold Corp, who has recently confirmed a new high grade gold discovery at the Rantasalmi gold property, in Finland. Rantasalmi is a joint venture between REBgold and Belvedere Resources (CVE:BEL).

The company also recently announced plans to issue up to 5 million units to new and existing shareholders, each comprising one common share and one warrant, in order for the proceeds to be used to fund its projects in Finland.

The funds will help expand the drill program at Rantasalmi, where there are numerous targets along strike and down dip from existing resources and other areas of identified mineralization.

The latest drilling continues to increase the potential for Osikonmaki East to become a significant gold deposit.

Every intersection into the new eastern hanging-wall zone has yielded greater than 100 gram metres, displaying potential for both high grade and bulk tonnage mineralization.

And in Vancouver on Thursday May 24, directors of Timmins Gold Corp (TSE:TMM), and Orko Silver Corp (CVE:OK) will be speaking at the Proactive Investors One2One Investor Forum, at the Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver Room on the second floor, on 645 Howe Street.

Presentations start at 1:30 pm local time, and end at 3:00 pm, after which the directors will be available to take questions, with a free canapés and a wine reception to follow.

Registration is available online at the link below:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/register/event_details/75

Timmins Gold Corp is in commercial gold production, generating revenue from its San Francisco gold mine in Sonora, Mexico.

The company recently declared for its fiscal first quarter that ended March 31, 2012, production of 21, 532 gold ounces, and 11,740 ounces of silver.

Timmins said this increased production was achieved even after four days of downtime due to the completion of the first part of a three-stage capacity improvement program that is meant to take the mine to throughput of 32,000 tons per day (tpd) of processed ore, and annual production of 130,000 ounces of gold beginning in 2013.

In late 2011, Timmins Gold published a technical report projecting total gold production at San Francisco of 810,065 ounces from 2011 to 2017, with average annual production seen at approximately 130,000 ounces of gold from 2012 to 2017.

Drilled as a deviated well, B72 logged a total of 619 feet measured depth of net oil pay in three Jurassic aged reservoir units.

The well was completed in the high-quality Beryl-I reservoir, which was found at original pressure of 5,220 pounds per square inch and started production at a rate of 11,625 barrels of oil per day (b/d) and 13.1 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

"This is one of the best wells drilled in the past 10 years in the Beryl Field and we expect it to open up further development opportunities," said regional vice president Jim House in a statement.

"We're very excited about this well because we've found virgin reservoir pressure in two of three zones containing more than 300 feet of net true vertical pay."

The Houston, Texas-based company said “finding the Beryl-1 reservoir in a fault block at original field pressures within the Beryl field is an encouraging result that highlights the complexity and remaining potential of the field."

During this summer, Apache plans to conduct a new 3-D seismic survey. This will be the first since 1997.

Apache owns 50 percent of Beryl Field and is the operator. Other field owners include Hess Ltd., which holds a 22.22 percent stake, while Enterprise Oil has a 22.78 percent interest and OMV Ltd., holds a five percent state.

The company’s stock rose 29 cents, or 0.35 percent, reaching $82.80 apiece in trade on the Nasdaq on Wednesday afternoon.

Presentations at the Ivey ING Direct Leadership Centre located at 130 King Street West will commence at 5:30 pm and will conclude at 7:00 pm. After the presentations, the directors will be available to take questions during a free canapé and wine reception.

Registration is available online at the link below:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/register/event_details/73

Canadian Quest Rare Minerals is joining us, and has recently appeared in a feature of the Globe and Mail, which lauded the Canadian miner for appearing closer than most to becoming a major player in heavy rare earths.

Quest says its Strange Lake Deposit in Northern Quebec could supply as much as 10 per cent of global demand for rare earths once it is up and running, and as much as 30 percent of demand for the more pricey heavy rare earths.

The company is currently advancing the Strange Lake and Misery Lake areas of northeastern Quebec. Quest's 2009 exploration led to the discovery of the significant rare earth metal deposit, the B-Zone, on its Strange Lake property.

The B-Zone deposit is one of the largest heavy rare earth resources in the world and is exposed at surface and amenable to a low-cost open pit mine. It has the potential to provide a long-term, stable supply of separated and refined heavy rare earths.

Quest released this week what it called "extremely encouraging" metallurgical test results from its B-Zone deposit, producing a zirconium and rare earth concentrate.

Dundee Capital Markets recently said Strange Lake was one of the top six rare earth projects outside China. The company intends to commission Strange Lake in 2016 with production beginning in 2017.

Our next speaker, Orko Silver Corp, is developing one of the world’s largest primary silver deposits in La Preciosa, located near the city of Durango, in Durango State, Mexico.

Orko last updated that the company is "one step closer" to mining its 100% owned La Preciosa project, after a Preliminary Mineability Assessment (PMA) concluded mining could be done at the site.

Orko said the results of the PMA cover both open pit and underground mining options that were presented in its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) released by the company and its former partner Pan American Silver Corp., in mid-August, 2011.

The August 2011 PEA gave an estimated mineral resource containing 113 million ounces of silver classified as indicated and a further 46 million ounces of silver classified as inferred.

The PEA showed an after-tax net present value of $315 million at a five percent discount rate, and a 24.3 percent internal rate of return. A new independent AMEC-authored PEA is anticipated in August or September.

Finally, we will be joined by REBgold Corp, who has recently confirmed a new high grade gold discovery at the Rantasalmi gold property, in Finland. Rantasalmi is a joint venture between REBgold and Belvedere Resources (CVE:BEL).

The company also recently announced plans to issue up to 5 million units to new and existing shareholders, each comprising one common share and one warrant, in order for the proceeds to be used to fund its projects in Finland.

The funds will help expand the drill program at Rantasalmi, where there are numerous targets along strike and down dip from existing resources and other areas of identified mineralization.

The latest drilling continues to increase the potential for Osikonmaki East to become a significant gold deposit.

Every intersection into the new eastern hanging-wall zone has yielded greater than 100 gram metres, displaying potential for both high grade and bulk tonnage mineralization.

And in Vancouver on Thursday May 24, directors of Timmins Gold Corp (TSE:TMM), and Orko Silver Corp (CVE:OK) will be speaking at the Proactive Investors One2One Investor Forum, at the Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver Room on the second floor, on 645 Howe Street.

Presentations start at 1:30 pm local time, and end at 3:00 pm, after which the directors will be available to take questions, with a free canapés and a wine reception to follow.

Registration is available online at the link below:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/register/event_details/75

Timmins Gold Corp is in commercial gold production, generating revenue from its San Francisco gold mine in Sonora, Mexico.

The company recently declared for its fiscal first quarter that ended March 31, 2012, production of 21, 532 gold ounces, and 11,740 ounces of silver.

Timmins said this increased production was achieved even after four days of downtime due to the completion of the first part of a three-stage capacity improvement program that is meant to take the mine to throughput of 32,000 tons per day (tpd) of processed ore, and annual production of 130,000 ounces of gold beginning in 2013.

In late 2011, Timmins Gold published a technical report projecting total gold production at San Francisco of 810,065 ounces from 2011 to 2017, with average annual production seen at approximately 130,000 ounces of gold from 2012 to 2017.

The Federal Trade Commission’s allegations were that the shoe company created advertisements for its toning footwear, such as the Shape-up line, with unsupported claims.

Skechers denies the allegations and believes its advertising was appropriate, but has decided to settle these claims in order to avoid protracted legal proceedings brought by federal and state regulators, as well as private consumer class action lawyers, it said in a statement.

The ads declared the shoes could help people lose weight, and gain muscle definition simply by walking and standing in the shoes, due to the curved rocker or rolling bottom that creates natural instability, causing the customer to use more energy.

Skechers said it will pay a one-time settlement of $45 million, plus $5 million in class action attorneys' fees to settle the domestic advertising matters and related claims on a global basis.

"While we vigorously deny the allegations made in these legal proceedings and looked forward to vindicating these claims in court, Skechers could not ignore the exorbitant cost and endless distraction of several years spent defending multiple lawsuits in multiple courts across the country," said Skechers’CFO, David Weinberg.

"This settlement will dispose once and for all of the regulatory and class action proceedings. While we believe we could have prevailed in each of these cases, to do so would have imposed an unreasonable burden on the company regardless of the outcome."

"In short, we settled to avoid the cost and distraction of protracted legal battles so we could get back to doing what we do best."

Skechers will continue to produce and distribute the toning shoes, since the settlement only relates to certain advertising and related claims.

Shoes with toning technology have been distributed in the US for more than 15 years, and have been the subject of many research projects and reports published in peer-reviewed clinical and sports medicine journals, said Skechers.

"The company fully stands behind its toning shoe products and technology and is permitted under the settlement to continue to advertise that wearing rocker-bottom shoes like Shape-ups can lead to increased leg muscle activation, increased calorie burn, improved posture and reduced back pain," said president of Skechers, Michael Greenberg.

"The company has received overwhelmingly enthusiastic feedback from literally thousands of customers who have tried our toning shoes for themselves."

Shares fell 2.3 percent Wednesday afternoon to $17.85.

A last ditch attempt to form a government failed yesterday after emergency coalition talks between give Greek parties and president Karolos Populias ended without an agreement.

The debt laden country will hold a new election on June 17 this year with polls suggesting that the anti-austerity Coalition of the Radical Left could win, putting Greece’s membership in the euro zone into jeopardy.

The political turmoil in Greece continued to stimulate demand for safe haven assets such as the US dollar, which has an inverse relationship with gold.

Bargain hunters started buying gold after it slipped below US$1,530 per ounce early today, hitting the lowest level since December.

Gold traded at US$1,540/oz, down US$4 from Tuesday’s close. Silver slipped eight cents to US$27.64/oz, while platinum held steady at US$1,427/oz.

Today’s top risers in the sector were:

Greatland Gold (LON:GGP), up 3.5 percent at 0.985 pence

Petropavlovsk (LON:POG), up 3.5 percent at 403.4 pence

Orosur Mining (LON:OSU), up 3 percent at 38.67 pence

The top fallers were:

Conroy Gold (LON:CGNR), down 13 percent at 2.61 pence at midday

Peninsular Gold (LON:PGL), down 11 percent at 14 pence

Hambledon Mining (LON:HMB), down 9 percent at 1.98 pence

Trans-Siberian Gold (LON:TSG), down 8.5 percent at 48 pence

KEFI Minerals (LON:KEFI), down 8 percent at 2.36 pence

While projections were for a gain of 1.5 million barrels in oil inventories in the US, the report from the Department of Energy revealed that crude stocks added 2.1 million barrels last week.

Meanwhile, the Greek political turmoil prompted investors to dump riskier assets including oil futures.

A last ditch attempt to form a government failed yesterday and the debt-laden country will now hold another election on June 17.

The fresh election could result in anti-austerity parties including the Coalition of the Radical Left gaining more seats in the parliament and securing a majority, which would put Greece’ membership in the euro zone and the future of Europe’s single currency into jeopardy.

Oil prices received a little support from today’s positive US data, which showed that housing starts rose more than expected last month, climbing 2.6 percent to an annualised rate of 717,000 units.

In addition, the estimate for March was revised to 699,000 from 654,000 previously.

US light, sweet crude for June delivery, currently the most actively traded contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), dropped 86 cents to US$93.12/barrel in morning trade in New York.

June Brent crude fell 50 cents to US$111.74/barrel on the ICE Exchange this afternoon.

Today’s top risers in the sector were:

Ophir Energy (LON:OPHR), up 12.5 percent at 580 pence at midday

Bankers Petroleum (LON:BNK), up 11.5 percent at 148 pence

Ruspetro (LON:RPO), up 5.5 percent at 170 pence

BowLeven (LON:BLVN), up 3.5 percent at 70.75 pence

Heritage Oil (LON:HOIL), up 1.5 percent at 124.9 pence

The top fallers were:

Jubilant Energy (LON:JUB), down 13 percent at 24.75 pence at midday

Melrose Resources (LON:MRS), down 10.5 percent at 113.09 pence

Silvermere Energy (LON:SLME), down 9 percent at 13.15 pence

President Petroleum (LON:PPC), down 9 percent at 31.3 pence

Oilex (LON:OEX), down 8.5 percent at 8.02 pence

The report revealed that the group has experienced delays with equipment deliveries for new build jackup projects along with the progressive slippage in the timing of expected contract wins.

As a result the group expects its full year profit margin to be at 3.5 percent, considerably below management expectations, while it is anticipated that revenues will be in line with last year at around US$1.1 billion.

The group added that it will likely post a small loss for the first half of the year.

Lamprell added that its profit margins should recover in 2013.

Shares in Lamprell changed hands at 120 pence this morning compared with Tuesday’s close of 294.8 pence.

Other notable movers included Yell Group (LON:YELL), which managed to tack on three percent to reach 3.31 pence in early deals despite today’s broad sell-off.

The digital services group has bought do it yourself website and online shop builder Moonfruit Limited for £18 million, which will be funded entirely from the group’s cash reserves.

The acquisition is in line with the group’s strategy to transform into a provider of print and online advertising for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), aiming to become a leader in the emerging local eMarketplace.

The eMarketplace comprises a platform and digital portal where consumers and SMEs can connect and transact.

Moonfruit is expected to add to Yell’s ability to provide websites, mobile sites and simple - "light" - commerce services to millions of SMEs. The deal also complements the acquisition of multi-store ecommerce specialist Znode last year.

“We believe there are significant strategic, cultural and operating synergies between Yell and Moonfruit,” said chief executive of Yell Mike Pocock.

“The addition of Moonfruit's services and team helps us provide competitive advantage to our global SME customers in connecting with consumers through digital, mobile and social.”

Greggs (LON:GRG) and AFC Energy (LON:AFC) also showed up among the most followed stocks of the day after Greggs updated investors on its performance and AFC said it managed to extend the life of its electrodes to over three months.

Bakery Greggs saw its sales rise 4.3 percent in the 19 weeks to May 12, however, like for like sales – which exclude the impact of new store openings – fell 1.8 percent, which the bakery said was in line with the performance for the first 10 weeks of the year.

The decline in sales came amid the “extremely challenging” trading, weak high street footfall and the rainy weather in April and early May.

During the first 19 weeks of the year, Greggs opened 25 new shops and closed five, taking the total number of shops to 1,591.

The new shops are trading well and the group remains on track to hit its target of adding a net 90 new shops by the end of the year.

Greggs expects customers’ disposable incomes to remain under pressure from high fuel, energy and food costs, however it added that sentiment could get a boost from the upcoming Olympics, the Euro 2012 football championship and the Diamond Jubilee.

In its report, alkaline fuel cell systems supplier AFC noted that the extension of the life of the electrodes is a significant development as it has identified that the first economic applications require a minimum of three months electrode life.

Electrodes enable the electrochemical reactions to occur between hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, heat and water.

The laboratory tests are continuing and are expected to yield further positive results in due course, added AFC.

“This is another milestone on our path to commercialisation. We have seen significant improvement in laboratory performance from this development; now we need to translate this to the industrial environment,” said AFC chief executive Ian Williamson.

Meanwhile, Tullow Oil’s (LON:TLW) confirmation that a drill ship has been contracted to begin work next month on further exploration of the Zaedyus discovery in French Guiana was not the only update from and oil and gas company that caught the eye of investors this morning.

Other reports that made the list of the most read RNS statements included an interim management statement from Soco and Polo Resources’ (LON:POL) announcement of an increase in its stake in African operating group Signet Petroleum.

Polo has exercised options for nearly three million shares worth US$10 million, which will be used to fund Signet’s exploration activities in Tanzania, Burundi, Namibia and Benin.

The company now has 7.8 million shares in Signet, which gives it a 17.9 percent stake.

The report from Soco revealed that its second production platform at the Te Giac Trang (TGT) field, offshore Vietnam, is on track to begin flowing oil this summer to increase production to around 55,000 barrels of oil per day.

Group output in the first four months of 2012 averaged 11,690 boepd net to the firm's working interest  -  a 358 per cent increase compared to the period in 2011.

Sector peer Gold Oil (LON:GOO) also generated interest today, reporting that the operator of its Azar Block in the Putumayo basin in Colombia has spudded the La Vega Este -1 well targeting the Villeta formation with the Caballos as a secondary objective.

The company is currently producing from the Villeta formation in its Nancy Burdine fields.

Operator Gran Tierra Energy has estimated that the well, which has a 34 percent chance of success, could flow oil at initial rates of between 1,500 and 2,000 barreos of oil per day (bopd) if all of its targets turn out to be oil bearing.

The well is expected to take 35 days to drill and if it indicated oil potential it will be completed and tested using a less expensive work over rig.

Mkango, which is focused on rare earth elements, today reported more good grades from the latest drilling at its project at Songwe Hill in Malawi.

The best result from the three holes tested so far in the stage two programme was PX013, which returned 66.5 metres grading 2.3 per cent of total rare earths including yttrium.

The result included 18.1m grading 3.2 per cent and 10.2m grading 3.7 per cent.

The three holes are part of a 25 hole programme, now on its 24th hole, that has drilled approximately 4,500 metres to date. 

Independent consultant MSA Group will start work on a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for Songwe once all of the all the assay results have been received.

Drilling continues to intersect broad zones of mineralised carbonatite, carbonatite breccia and fenite, Mkango said.

Will Dawes, Mkango’s chief executive added: “Grades continue to indicate there are significant zones of higher grade mineralisation and the fact that we are demonstrating continuity between the drill intersections is also positive for the resource calculation.”

The Stage 2 drilling programme will complement a 13 hole, 2,000m Stage 1 drilling programme and systematic channel sampling completed in 2011.

It is focusing on an area measuring approximately 350m by 100m comprising rare earth enriched carbonatite, carbonatite breccia and fenite lithologies, largelyexposed at surface.

Mkango added that analysis indicated the mineralised zones have the potential to extend to a vertical depth of at least 350m and remain open laterally within the extents of the Songwe carbonatite complex.

Now that Malawi’s rainy season is over, exploration will focus other rare earth targets in the Phalombe licence, which contains Songwe Hill, and on zircon and uranium targets in the Thambani licence.

Mkango owns 100 per cent of both exclusive prospecting licences, which cover a combined area of 1,751 square Km in southern Malawi.

The in-depth report on Castle Peak said two numbers point to the potential of the company, five and 50.

In short, there are five mines within a 50 kilometre radius of Castle Peak’s Akorade project with a total of 50 million ounces of gold reserves and resources.

This tells us the company is in an impressive neighbourhood. 

Nearology helps, but it is nothing without the right geology, funding and exploration expertise. 

Castle Peak has a tick in each of these boxes, which makes a mockery of the company’s current valuation of just over C$10 million.

Finance first. In total, C$8.5 million will be provided by two cornerstone investors – Grizal Enterprises and Beijing Donia Resources and its affiliates.

Grizal, which has an investment in another exploration company exploring an area just north of Castle Peak, has committed C$3 million in return for a 15 per cent stake.

Beijing Donia and affiliates, meanwhile, will take a 30 per cent of Castle Peak in return for C$5.5 million of investment. 

This will fund up to 10,000 metres of drilling – half of which will be follow-up, with the remainder used to assess new targets.

“We are well financed throughout this year to execute on our exploration and discovery strategy,” said chief executive Darren Lindsay.

Akorade is a patchwork of nine concessions with Castle Peak owning between 90 and 100 per cent of each. 

The outlier is POW, where the stake is 82.5 per cent, though Lindsay is hopeful Castle Peak will eventually increase its stake. 

Two fully-owned concessions, meanwhile, carry a 2.5 per cent net smelter royalty; and one fully owned concession is held with no subjects.

The company’s land position represents many years of hard negotiation with concession holders and was assembled for US$8.2 million. This includes the cost of taking over the private company that originally assembled the land package.

Proactive also covered today’s news from Connemara Mining (LON:CON), which has completed an airborne survey over a block of five licences in the Wicklow and Wexford areas of Ireland which may have uncovered previously unknown potential gold targets.

The work is part of a joint venture between Connemara and Hendrick Resources of Canada under which the latter will earn a 75 per cent interest in the licences by spending €1 million.

The magnetic, very low frequency and radiometric survey is being processed by Terraquest in Canada. 

Initial analysis carried out on the raw data by Hendrick in Canada indicates the presence of previously undetected blind targets.  Final results are due within six weeks.

Connemara chairman John Teeling: "Gold in the Wicklow hills has been known for over 200 years but finding commercially viable deposits is a far more complicated issue.  

“Dale Hendrick, an acknowledged expert in evaluating airborne survey results has done some work on the raw data from the survey.  

“He believes that he has identified previously unknown 'potential' targets for gold deposits.

In oil and gas, Dragon Oil (LON:DGO) has successfully completed and tested the Dzheitune (Lam) 28/169 development well in the Caspian Sea, offshore Turkmenistan.

Dzheitune (Lam) 28/169 was completed as a single producer to a depth of 2,010 metres. 

It tested for initial production at 1,775 barrels of oil per day (bopd). The rig has skidded to the next slot and spudded the Dzheitune (Lam) 28/172 well.

Early in the second quarter, a number of older wells were choked down to minimise possible production of sand which had an impact on the oil flow from these wells. 

The company is gradually bringing the wells back to normal flow levels by installing sand screens in some of those affected older wells as well as desanders on certain platforms in areas prone to sand production.  

Over the last two years, Dragon Oil has been installing sand screens on newer wells to control sand production and to ensure effective oil flow from well completions, and it will continue to do so in 2012. 

Taking into account the performance in the first quarter of the current year and estimates for the second, the company is forecasting average gross production in the first half to be around 10-15 per cent over the average gross production level of 58,000 bopd achieved in the first half of 2011.

Another article was dedicated to regenerative tissue specialist Tissue Regenix (LON:TRX), which today retained its ‘buy’ rating from Daniel Stewart. The broker said last year's funding has left the company well positioned to accelerate and flesh out its pipeline.

Analyst Vadim Alexandre said: “Over the period the group raised £25 million via a share placing, significantly strengthening its balance sheet. 

“As such, we expect the company to increase expenditure on its product development programmes so as to accelerate the expansion of its pipeline.”

Tissue Regenix, which has patented a tissue decellularisation technology called dCell said, as it posted its full year results last week, that it had begun to refine the production processes for a ligament repair product using implants from a pig.

It involves taking tissue from a human donor or an animal, usually a pig, washing and treating it to remove any trace of the donor’s characteristics or DNA, at which point it can be re-used in a human body.

As well as cartilages and ligaments,  the company is working on replacement heart valves, skin and vascular patches using dCell.

Both have been dragged down in the recent market turmoil. But according to City heavyweights UBS and JP Morgan Cazenove both have fallen far enough, offering two great opportunities for value investors.

Barclays’ share price has suffered in recent weeks and UBS analysts reckon concerns over its exposure to Spain, where it has a network of more than 450 branches and employs nearly 4,000 people, are to blame for this.

The Swiss broker believes shares are finally back to a point where they’re worth a punt.

JP Morgan Cazenove analysts also think the only way is up for its top pick Kingfisher.

The DIY retailer will be crossing its fingers for an Indian summer after an April washout hit sales at B&Q.

The broker has a similarly positive attitude towards supermarket struggler Morrisons (LON:MRW), upgrading its rating to ‘neutral’ from ‘underweight’.

JP Morgan Cazenove analysts think it’s now time for investors to hold on to their cards given the recent share price fall, which makes it just a little more compelling.

The stock continued on its steadily declining path this morning.

Oil rig maker Lamprell (LON:LAM) has sunk to the bottom of the pile as a profit warning scared off investors.

Shares plummeted 60 per cent today to 120 pence on the news and analysts at Investec Securities are shaking their heads in disbelief at the company, which it says is renowned for being accident prone.

It’s safe to say the broker’s ‘buy’ stance and 450 pence price target won’t last for long.

In a double take-down this morning, UBS slashed ratings for double act Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Glencore (LON:GLEN), sending shares tumbling.

Commodity trader Glencore has its potential merger partner to blame for the downgrade as Xstrata’s production was rocked by lower coal prices and higher costs.

The miner looks like it will drag Glencore through the mill with more challenges on the horizon for alloys and coal.

Both companies have been downgraded to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’, while miner Xstrata’s target price was cut by nearly 400 pence to 1,080 pence.

Small and mid-caps got a ringing endorsement from brokers today.

In the oil and gas sector, Tethys Petroleum (LON:TPL) and Lansdowne Oil and Gas (LON:LOGP) were among the top picks.

With a significant upgrade to its resource estimate for its Kazakhstan assets announced today, Tethys’ share price, which currently stands at 45 pence, could be set to soar, says broker Fox-Davies.

And if the next well planned to be spud at the end of June comes back with more positive data, the broker thinks the shares have the potential to reach new heights.

Meanwhile, broker finnCap believes investors are missing out on the significant value in the Barryroe well in the Celtic Sea, in which Lansdowne has a 20 per cent interest.

Lansdowne's share price, which has dropped well below recent highs, offers “steep discount” for investors.

And with a target price of 70 pence, double the current share price of 35 pence, the broker sees excellent value in the Irish company.

The news today was equally promising for the mining sector.

FinnCap analyst Martin Potts sees the start of Minera IRL’s (LON:MIRL) permitting process as a sign of the company’s commitment to developing the Don Nicolas project in the face of negative market sentiment towards Argentina.

Minera views the YPF/Repsol saga as a one-off and investors shouldn’t worry about the futures of other resource companies in the country.

Sticking with South America, Brazil-focused Horizonte Minerals (LON:HZM) is making steady progress with its nickel and gold projects.

Potts says the stock is one investors should keep a close eye on as the imminent preliminary economic assessment of its flagship project will be a “significant milestone”.

The encouraging scoping study at Ferrex’s (LON:FRX) Malelane iron ore project in South Africa shows that its parameters are “promising”, says City firm Fairfax.

The broker is a big fan of the management team and reckons this is a project “well worth following”.

In neighbouring Lesotho, Namakwa Diamonds (LON:NAD) is another stock worth keeping tabs on with its diamonds far exceeding the prices anticipated at its first sale in Antwerp.

But broker Fairfax added one note of caution however. It claims the company is facing “some operational challenges” in the form of water shortages which could affect productivity.

Unfortunately this is part and parcel of operating in this terrain, the broker said.

The move will bolster CAE’s training centre footprint and flight training network, the Montreal-based company said.

"We are very excited about this acquisition as it enables us to offer our customers more locations and additional training capacity as well as a new service for pilot and maintenance crew sourcing," CEO Marc Parent said in a release.

"With this acquisition, CAE responds to market demand with an increased footprint and a complete end-to-end solution for commercial aviation."

The deal adds seven new civil aviation training centres that will provide training for pilots, maintenance and cabin crew, the company said.

The CAE Oxford Aviation Academy will have the capacity to train over 600 cadets annually. This will boost the number of cadets being trained through all of CAE’s flight training schools to 1,500 a year.

The Parc Aviation banner will also broaden CAE’s pilot and maintenance crew sourcing portfolio to 50 airlines and leasing companies in 40 countries, mainly in Asia.

The Oxford Aviation Academy posted revenues of $280 million during CAE’s fiscal year 2012.

The purchase price reflects nine times Oxford’s Ebitda for the same period, CAE said.

The acquisition, which was financed with a new senior unsecured credit loan, is expected to to add to CAE’s earnings in fiscal year 2014.

Barclays (LON:BARC) and B&Q owner Kingfisher (LON:KGF) were the top broker calls this morning.

Both have been dragged down in the recent market turmoil. But according to City heavyweights UBS and JP Morgan Cazenove both have fallen far enough, offering two great opportunities for value investors.

Barclays’ share price has suffered in recent weeks and UBS analysts reckon concerns over its exposure to Spain, where it has a network of more than 450 branches and employs nearly 4,000 people, are to blame for this.

The Swiss broker believes shares are finally back to a point where they’re worth a punt.

JP Morgan Cazenove analysts also think the only way is up for its top pick Kingfisher.

The DIY retailer will be crossing its fingers for an Indian summer after an April washout hit sales at B&Q.

The broker has a similarly positive attitude towards supermarket struggler Morrisons (LON:MRW), upgrading its rating to ‘neutral’ from ‘underweight’.

JP Morgan Cazenove analysts think it’s now time for investors to hold on to their cards given the recent share price fall, which makes it just a little more compelling.

The stock continued on its steadily declining path this morning.

Oil rig maker Lamprell (LON:LAM) has sunk to the bottom of the pile as a profit warning scared off investors.

Shares plummeted 60 per cent today to 120 pence on the news and analysts at Investec Securities are shaking their heads in disbelief at the company, which it says is renowned for being accident prone.

It’s safe to say the broker’s ‘buy’ stance and 450 pence price target won’t last for long.

In a double take-down this morning, UBS slashed ratings for double act Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Glencore (LON:GLEN), sending shares tumbling.

Commodity trader Glencore has its potential merger partner to blame for the downgrade as Xstrata’s production was rocked by lower coal prices and higher costs.

The miner looks like it will drag Glencore through the mill with more challenges on the horizon for alloys and coal.

Both companies have been downgraded to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’, while miner Xstrata’s target price was cut by nearly 400 pence to 1,080 pence.

The property, which consists of 241 claims and two mining concessions covering 7,566-hectares, is located in the Le Sueur Township about 225 kilometres northeast of Val d’Or, Quebec. 

The Quebec-based explorer continues underground drilling of the Main and B veins from level 15 of the Bachelor Lake mine. About 20 holes totalling 6,370 meters of drilling have been completed.

The drill holes targeted areas to further expand the resource, aiming at known extensions of the "Main" and "B" veins between levels 14 and 15.

Recently, a second drill – which is located on the level 13 and is targeting the lateral extensions of the Main and B veins – was put into operation to provide supporting information for the continued mine development between levels 12 and 14. The company said so far three drill holes totalling 320 metres were completed on level 13.

From the results announced today, Metanor hit 26.36 grams per tonne (g/t) over 4.08 metres in drill hole 13-001. It also intersected 17.24 g/t over 5.64 metres in drill hole 15-005.

In addition, drill hole 15-016 returned 16.81 g/t over 5.73 metres at its Bachelor mine, the company said in a release.

"Metanor is very encouraged by the results achieved to date in its efforts to increase the resource at its Bachelor Lake mine project," the company said.

It now plans to leave at least two drill rigs underground to work on increasing the resource and to continue the development of the mining project into production.

In the third quarter, Metanor also plans to initiate a series of drill holes to probe the Bachelor deposit up to 1,000 feet below level 15, since the recent drill results confirm the deposit is open at depth, it said.

Shares were up 15 percent reaching 23 cents apiece on Toronto’s junior venture market.

As of around 1:30pm ET, the main S&P/TSX Composite Index was flat at around 11,343.03, while the more junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite dropped 15.05 points, or 1.21%, to 1,225.02.

Political uncertainty in Greece has increased fears that the country could fail to meet its debt payments and be forced to exit the eurozone, after Greek politicians failed to put together a ruling coalition forcing the country back to the polls in June.

But investors saw some positive remarks from European leaders, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel repeating that Germany is for Greece remaining in the eurozone. She said she has agreed with France's newly elected president Francois Hollande to consider measures to drive growth in Greece.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also said it would be a mistake if Greece left the eurozone.

In Toronto, metals and mining stocks were the biggest percentage gainers, with financials and materials also increasing. Energy stocks edged down in the early afternoon.

Commodities continued to fall, with gold for June delivery down $19.30 to $1,537.50 an ounce and crude oil for June lower by 94 cents to $94.16 per barrel.

Silver futures dropped 2.38% to $27.68 an ounce, while the base metal copper contract retreated 5.3 cents to $3.50 a pound.

In energy, Talisman Energy (TSE:TLM) rose Wednesday, up 1.6%, and Savannah Energy (TSE:SVY) was up 3.19%, while elsewhere in the sector, Nuvista Energy (TSE:NVA) and Pengrowth Energy (TSE:PGH) were lower by 8.90% and 3.37%, respectively.

In mining, Osisko Mining Corp. (TSE:OSKFF) rose 8.27%, and Ivanhoe Mines (TSE:IVN) was up 5.94%, while Aurizon Mines Ltd. (TSE:AZK) fell 1.23%.

Copper-focused First Quantam Minerals Ltd. (TSE:FM) was up 5% even as the base metal prices were at multi-month lows. Copper heavyweight Teck Resources (TSE:TCK.B), meanwhile, fell 0.5%.

Lundin Mining (TSE:LUN) rose 4%, and gold giants Kinross (TSE:K), Goldcorp (TSE:G), and Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) gained 0.82%, 1.3% and 0.97%, respectively.

In financials, Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) advanced 0.81%, while insurer Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) was down 0.6%.

In corporate news, department store Sears Canada (TSE:SCC) said it swung to a first-quarter profit on Wednesday thanks to a $164.3 million pre-tax gain from lease terminations.

The company posted a profit of $93.1 million, or 91 cents per share, in contrast with the year-earlier net loss of $47 million, or 45 cents a share.

Birchcliff Energy (TSE:BIR) said Wednesday that in the face of low natural gas prices, posting earnings "is a testament" to its "very low cost of operations."

The Calgary-based company posted earnings of $3.7 million or three cents per share for the first quarter of 2012, down 61 percent from $9.6 million or eight cents per share in the same quarter last year.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales increased 1.9% in March to $49.7 billion, the largest advance since September 2011.

The gain was led by the petroleum and coal products industry and was much better than the 0.3% gain that economists expected.

Meanwhile, the Re/Max real-estate sales organization says demand for high-priced housing was strong in most Canadian markets in the first months of this year, with records set in 10 of the 16 markets it tracks.

US/Europe

US stocks edged up Wednesday, on reports that new home construction starts rose in April, with the Dow lately up 0.2%.

Housing starts jumped to an annual rate of 717,000 in April, from the revised level of 699,000 in March. Analysts had expected a rate of 680,000.

Meanwhile, building permits fell to an annual rate of 715,000 in April, down from the revised figure of 769,000 in March. Analysts expected permits to fall to 730,000.

Elsewhere in economic news, industrial production rose 1.1% in April, rising at the fastest pace since December 2010, well beating estimate of 0.5% growth.

In corporate news, social network site Facebook Wednesday increased the size of its initial public offering by almost 25 per cent as it could raise as much as $16 billion on strong investor demand for its market debut.

J.C. Penney Company (NYSE:JCP) saw its shares plummet more than 16 percent on Wednesday, a day after the department store retailer reported it swung to a loss as customers failed to adapt to its new pricing strategy.

The results also prompted the company to discontinue its 20 cent per share quarterly dividend in order to generate cash savings of roughly $175 million on an annual basis. The company hopes to use this cash to fund its transformation plan.

Big box retailer Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) said Wednesday fiscal first-quarter profit grew 1.2 percent aided by revenue growth of almost six percent as people spent more at its stores.

Net earnings rose to $697 million, or $1.04 per share, on $16.86 billion in revenue in the latest quarter that ended April 28. This compared to a profit of $689 million, or 99 cents per share, on $15.93 billion in sales, a year-prior.

On average, analysts had expected a per-share profit of $1.01, on $16.80 billion in revenue, according to Bloomberg.

Farm equipment maker Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE) Wednesday posted a 17 percent jump in profits for its fiscal second-quarter as it is raised its outlook for the full year.

Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS), the largest U.S. office supply chain, Wednesday posted lower-than-expected fiscal first-quarter sales, hurt by weakness in international markets.

THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI), the publisher of the "Saints Row: The Third" video game, late Tuesday posted a wider fiscal fourth-quarter loss following a disastrous dropoff in sales during the holiday shopping season.

The FBI said Wednesday that it has opened an investigation into JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), a week after the bank disclosed a $2 billion trading loss.

In the afternoon, minutes from the April meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee will be issued at 2 p.m. ET.

European markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The DAX gained 0.40% and the CAC 40 rose 0.31%, while the FTSE 100 in Britain lost 0.60%.

Mid-Day: The NASDAQ is now Down - 1.45 (-0.05%) to 2,892.31 while the Dow is UP +12.31 (+0.17%) to 12,653.31.

Mid-Day Market Commentary: Some RegMed stocks opened higher (ASTM and OSIR) as others struggled to gain footage … in choppy trading Wednesday, as economic reports … get better. The CBOE Volatility Index, <fear gauge> traded near 21, again.

Today’s Gospel:  RegMed stocks are down. … Mid-day, Wednesday … there are few leader(s) …a few green (ups) and more red (downs) and 5 black (flats) on the screen. After trending lower in recent sessions, stocks are moving notably higher in early trading on Wednesday. The major averages have seen some further upside in the past hour, reaching new highs for these session. The early strength is partly due to … bargain hunting, with traders picking up stocks at reduced levels following the recent weakness in the markets. The markets have also benefited from some upbeat US economic data, including a report from the Fed showing a much bigger than expected increase in industrial production in April.

My favorites: 

• Aastrom (ASTM) is up +$0.03  to $2.35 with a … decreasing …  mid-day range $2.33 -$2.43 with … low volume to start the day but, picking up … volume of 112K shares;

• Cytori (CYTX) is down $0.085 <-3.87%< to $2.16 … in an decreasing trading range of $2.16 – $2.27 with …  small trading of 162K;

• Ah ha, Osiris (OSIR) is up $0.18 or +4.41% to $5.19 in a decreasing trading range of $4.93 – $5.19 and Verastem (VSTM) is down $0.12 or -1.24% to $9.57.

Minimal upward moves: Advanced Cell Technology (OTC BB: ACTC), BioTime (Amex: BTX), BioMimetic (BMTI), Dendreon (DNDN), ImmunoCellular (OTC BB: IMUC), Opexa (OPXA),

Minimal downward moves: Athersys (ATHX), Cytomedix (OTC BB: CMXI) – post earnings, Geron (GERN), Fibrocell (OTC BB: FCSC), NeoStem (Amex: NBS), Neuralstem (Amex: CUR), and Pluristem (PSTI), ReNeuron (RENE.L), StemCells (STEM), Tengion (TNGN).

Flat: Cryo-Cell (OTC BB: CCEL),International Stem Cell (OTC BB: ISCO) – post earnings,

EconRecon: Housing starts rose more than expected in April, gaining 2.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 717,000 units. Economists had forecast housing starts rising to 680,000-unit rate. Still, building permits fell 7%. And industrial production grew 1.1% in April, posting its fastest growth in over a year, according to the Federal Reserve, after being flat in February and March.

What’s new in the regenerative medicine/stem cell market … Earnings (LPS) Season is all but over …

Net loss of $6.1M, or $0.22 per share compared to a net loss of $8M, or $0.28 per diluted share, for Q1/11.

For Q1/12, BMTI reported total revenues of $0.5M consisting of sublicense fee income, royalty income and product sales. This compares to total revenues of $0.4M recorded for Q1/11.  R&D expenses totaled $2.8M for Q1/12, compared to $4.1M for Q1/11. R&D expenses include outside professional services expenses, as well as salaries, wages, benefits, payroll taxes and stock-based compensation expense for internal research and development personnel, and relate to clinical trials of our product candidates in the US, Canada, Australia and the EU, as well as continuing expenses associated with pre-clinical studies and regulatory filings. The 2012 expenses for professional services and manufacturing activities decreased by $0.5M, as costs associated with the  Augment Injectable clinical trial have decreased since voluntarily suspended additional screening and enrollment of patients to conserve resources and focus its attention on addressing the Augment PMA. Salaries, benefits, payroll taxes and stock-based compensation expense in the R&D function decreased in 2012 by a combined $0.7M due to a reduction in staffing. In addition, expenses for general business activities in the R&D function, such as travel, recruiting and relocation, lab supplies, and freight, decreased in 2012 by $0.1M. SG&A expenses totaled $3.4M for Q1/12, compared to $4M for Q1/11. The 2012 expenses for SG&A activities decreased primarily from efforts to carefully manage expenses and conserve resources given the uncertainty surrounding the FDA review process of its PMA application for Augment, offset partially by sales, marketing and customer service efforts, particularly in connection with activities surrounding the preparation for commercial launch of Augment and Augmatrix. Expenses for professional services decreased in 2012 by $0.4M, and expenses for general business activities in the SG&A function, such as travel, conferences and seminars, recruiting and relocation, dues and subscriptions, office supplies, rent and utilities, decreased in 2012 by $0.2M.

• BMTI ended Q1/12 with $54.5M of cash and cash equivalents and investments.

2012 Financial Guidance: Based on current operating plans, forecasted timing and costs of clinical trials and other product development programs, BMTI anticipates its 2012 year-end balance of cash, cash equivalents and investments to range from $32 to $39M, and anticipates its net cash use will be between $22 and $29M. Net loss for the year ending December 31, 2012 is forecasted to be in the range of $23 to $30M.

Q1/12 Highlights:

• In January 2012, announced receipt of a comprehensive post-panel response letter from the FDA related to the Pre-Market Approval (PMA) application for Augment®Bone Graft. The letter detailed the information needed to submit for the FDA to complete its review of the PMA application. Continues to work toward completion of the requested additional analyses and expects to submit the information in the form of an amendment to its PMA application by the middle of 2012. Although the timing and nature of the FDA’s response cannot be predicted with certainty, by statute the FDA has 6 months from the date of submission to respond to a PMA amendment.

• Pursuing regulatory approvals for Augment Bone Graft in several OUS (outside US) markets. In addition, the Company is awaiting reimbursement decisions in Australia and New Zealand where Augment has already received approval.

• In April, shipped its first orders of Augmatrix™ Biocomposite Bone Graft to its distributors who have begun the process of getting Augmatrix stocked in hospitals and surgical centers, while educating surgeons on the attributes of the product line. Augmatrix is a family of grafting materials that has been FDA cleared for use in orthopedic indications for which Augment will not initially be indicated. Augmatrix is comprised of carbonate-apatite and bovine Type I collagen and is designed to be combined with bone marrow aspirate (BMA).

• Continues to work with European Union (EU) regulatory authorities toward a final CE Mark decision for GEM 21S®. Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., which bought the rights to the dental and cranio-maxillofacial applications for BMTI’s rhPDGF-BB technology, has notified that it is evaluating whether the conditions for the $10M milestone payment it owes BMTI  upon approval of GEM 21S in the EU have been satisfied. Earlier this year, at the request of Luitpold, the EU regulatory authorities indicated they would be re-evaluating the CE Mark recently granted for the product to determine if the product was properly classified as a medical device rather than a medicinal. BMTI is considering its options in the event Luitpold does not make the payment.

Net loss of $4.1M or $0.05 per share in Q1/12 is compared to a net loss of $1.7M or $0.02 in Q1/11.

Revenues were $1.07M in Q1/12 compared to $1.5m in Q1/11. Cost of sales was $324K compared to $429K in Q1/11. R&D expenses were $937K versus $1M in Q1/11. Marking costs were $496K versus $318k in Q1/11. G&A expenses were $2.04M in Q1/12 reflecting an 8.5% decrease as compared to $2.23M in Q1/11. The decrease is primarily attributable to the absence of stock-based compensation for services provided by a consultant amounting to $303K and lower employee stock-based compensation of $112K. The decrease was partially offset by an increase in professional accounting fees and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts of $107K, higher legal fees of $61K relating to corporate activities, higher consulting expense of $26K and higher personnel related expenses of $25K. Total development costs were $3.79M in Q1/12 as compared to $3.98M in Q1/11. Loss from development activities were $2.71m versus $2.46M in Q1/11. Net loss was $2.67M versus $1.49m in Q1/11. Net loss applicable to shareholders was $4.13M in Q1/12 versus $1.7m in Q1/11. Net cash used in operating activities was $2.03M for Q1/12, compared to $970K for q1/11. The primary factors contributing to the variability in the report cash flow amounts relate to the net loss after non-cash adjustments totaling $1.87M in Q1/12 compared to $1.16M in Q1/11. Furthermore, the timing of customer payments and billings, vendor payments and invoicing, lower deferred revenue balances resulting from lower sales generated from skin care products and lower inventory balances contributed to the increase in net cash used in operating activities inQ1/12. Weighted average of basic and diluted shares used in computing the net loss was 82.48m as compared to 75.36M in Q1/11.

• Cash and cash equivalents was $6M

The Bottom Line: Although ISCO primary focus relates to intellectual property developed internally, some of the patents utilized are licensed  by Advanced Cell Technology, which has licensed some of these from other parties, including the University of Massachusetts. These licenses are subject to termination under certain circumstances (including, for example, failure to make minimum royalty payments). The loss of any of such licenses, or the conversion of such licenses to non-exclusive licenses, could harm operations and/or enhance the prospects of competitors. Certain parts of know-how and technology are not patentable or are trade secrets. To protect proprietary position in such know-how and technology, ISCO intends to require all employees, consultants, advisors and collaborators to enter into confidentiality and invention ownership agreements. These agreements may not provide meaningful protection for trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use or disclosure. Further, in the absence of patent protection, competitors who independently develop substantially equivalent technology may harm ISCO’s business. As long as the trading price of ISCO’s common stock is below $5.00 per share, the open market trading of common stock will be subject to the “penny stock” rules, unless  otherwise qualified for an exemption from the “penny stock” definition. The “penny stock” rules impose additional sales practice requirements on certain broker-dealers who sell securities to persons.

Net loss of $4.74M or $0.07 per share included $3.44M in non-recurring and/or non-cash expenses and transaction costs, compared with a net loss  of $1.50M or $0.03 per share.

Total revenues for Q1/12 were $3.02M, an increase of 121% compared with total revenues of $1.37M for Q1/11. The increase was largely attributable to the recognition of $1.33M in license revenue from the $4.50M in total non-refundable option fees received to date in connection with the potential agreement with a global pharmaceutical company, as well as from higher sales of the Angel and AutoloGel Systems. Sales from the Angel product line increased 18% to $1.51M from $1.28M in Q1/11. Record quarterly AutoloGel System sales of $164,000 increased 89% compared with Q1/11. Gross profit for Q1/12 increased 201% to $2.17M from $720K for Q1/11, primarily due to the $1.33M in licensing revenue that had no related cost of revenue. Gross profit on product sales increased 16% to $838K. Gross margin on product sales for Q1/12 was 50% compared with 53% for Q1/11 primarily the result of a shift in product mix to lower-margin products as CMXI recorded a significant number of Angel device sales to international distributors and wrote off some obsolete inventory. Q1/12 cash margin on product sales, excluding $116K in patent amortization and depreciation expense, was 56%. Cash margin is a non-GAAP financial measure, most directly comparable to gross margin, and should not be considered as an alternative thereto. CYMX defines cash margin as gross margin exclusive of patent amortization and depreciation expense, and it is a significant performance metric used by management to indicate cash profitability on product sales. Operating expenses for Q1/12 increased to $4.89M from $2.20M in q1/11. This increase was primarily attributable to transaction related costs associated with the Aldagen acquisition of approximately $528K, and approximately $979K in non-recurring, non-cash stock compensation expense for options granted to former Aldagen employees, consultants and board members. CMXI also incurred additional expenses in Q1/12 related to reimbursement, regulatory and marketing initiatives. Other expense for Q1/12 of $2M compared with other income of $78K in Q1/11.  The change was primarily due to approximately $1.5M in non-cash inducement expense associated with common stock issued in exchange for the early conversion of Series D preferred stock and incentive warrants issued in exchange for the early exercise of existing warrants. Additionally, there was an approximate $424K in expense associated with non-cash interest costs and change in fair value of derivative liabilities. CMXI used $509K in cash to fund operating activities during the first quarter 2012. An additional $1.18M in cash from warrant exercises was received post quarter end associated with the remaining binding commitments for warrant exercises by 6/30//12. Shares used in computing the net loss were 63.26M in Q1/12 and 46.05M in Q1/11.

• Cash and cash equivalents as of 3/31/12 were $8.5M, compared with $2.25M as of 12/31/11.

Q1/12 highlights:

• The acquisition of Aldagen broadened CMXI footprint in regenerative medicine and provided a robust pipeline of product candidates in areas of large unmet medical need. CMXI are in the process of integrating the Aldagen technology into the business and have made progress with ongoing development programs. CMXI has advanced the P2 RECOVER-Stroke trial, which is assessing ALD-401 to treat post-acute ischemic stroke, and saw positive data from a P1 clinical trial of ALD-201 to treat ischemic heart failure published in the American Heart Journal;
• CMXI continued to post significant revenue growth for the Angel® Whole Blood Separation System during the quarter, and looks forward to expanding its potential with enhanced targeted marketing efforts as well as expansion into other indications to increase utilization. CMXI has a 510(k) application on file with the FDAfor Angel to process bone marrow and are evaluating strategies to leverage the utility of this product in sports medicine and orthopedics where there is a growing market opportunity. In addition, CMXI also posted a record revenue quarter for AutoloGel even though commercial sales focus was on Angel while AutoloGel efforts were dedicated to reimbursement and partnership initiatives.

The final interview in our MPR series is with Leon Marucchi, Director of Industrial Design and Katie McHugh, a design engineer at the international consulting firm. Below they discuss concurrent design and design from manufacture and the tremendous value it provides in bringing a device to market.

Click below to hear full audio interview and see transcript that follows.

Brett Johnson:           Welcome from New York, Brett Johnson with OneMedRadio. Today, we are with Leon Marucchi who is the director of industrial design and Katie McHugh who is a design engineer at the international consulting firm of MPR Associates as part of our expert series on compressing the time to bring in new medical device to market. MPR has been in this business since the late ‘60s and have brought numerous devices to market. Today, we’re talking about concurrent design and DFM or design from manufacture and the value that it can provide in accelerating this process. Thanks for joining us today.

Leon Marucchi:     Good to be here, Brett.

BJ:          So Katie, why don’t we start with you? What is concurrent design exactly and what are its advantages?

Katie McHugh:           Well, in a concurrent design process, you bring together a team that has different skills in different areas. So you’re working with people who have skills in creative design and design engineering and also in manufacturing and assembly so they can work together to make sure that each of these areas are considered from the beginning so that you can anticipate problems and resolve those earlier in the design process.

BJ:         What is the difference between what an industrial designer does and what a design engineer does?

LM:     Well the difference is, the industrial designers really focus on the user’s needs. We really need to investigate and talk to the key opinion leaders in the industry and learn exactly how a specific instrument or device is going to be used out in the field. Because we don’t understand where we’re going to go with our design unless we know how they’re going to be holding this, what are the ergonomics, you know, what is the balance of weighting of the tool.

And on the engineering side, we’re concerned about minimizing the assembly, minimizing the complexity of the assembly to get the job done and keep it within an envelope that the industrial design is correct for the user in their environment.

BJ:    Interesting. So, in terms of how this process works, you talked about sort of a real time communication, what does that mean?

KM:     So on a daily basis, I’m a design engineer and Leon is an industrial designer, we’re talking several times a day when we’re together on a product. We’re looking at issues that come up with the parts and we’re figuring out ways that we can resolve the issues that will be satisfactory both from the user’s perspective and also for the detailed design of the device. So it really means having constant communication with these groups within one organization.

BJ:   So, how does this differ in terms of the development process from a traditional kind of approach?

LM:     Well the linear and the parallel approach are two simple words and ways to look this. So working in a parallel approach again, we’re working these solutions together. We’re not working on top of each other but we’re working concurrently to resolve issues as they come to play in real time. In a linear approach, the job, the tasks and the solutions come from individual disciplines in separate areas at separate times. So as an industrial designer, I may say, boy, does this look good and this is the position I want a hand to hold this specific instrument in the operating room environment. But I’m not considering the constraints that come to play for the engineer to actually allow the volume to be a small as I want it, the weight to be as light as I need it. I need the inputs real time concurrently from engineering to make that happen. A parallel process allows that and a linear process we end up with disagreements and we have to go back and revisit solutions instead of keeping things flowing towards manufacturing.

KM:    Right. So you really end up with sort of a struggle at each step if you’re trying to implement a linear process. Because as a design engineer, I might get input from the industrial designer and take a look at putting in the details into the design and figure out that well I can’t do what the industrial designer is asking me to do in the detailed design. So just talking about that upfront, it avoids a lot of frustration and a lot of iteration, which really adds to the ultimate timeline of the product.

BJ:    Interesting. You talk about a user-centered approach. How does a user-centered approach relate to concurrent design process?

LM:   Well the user again, you know, he’s the end user. He’s the one that needs to be accommodated as well as possible with our design and with our output from production. So this approach, the user himself with the details that we instill and we put within this device, the only way we can make that real is again to have not just industrial design mechanical engineering, embedded systems, and production issues on the table at the beginning of our project plan. We have to know how the user is going to use it, center our efforts in all these areas on how to best accomplish that. We can’t come to a manufacturer and say here’s the design at the end of the road because he’ll come back to us and say well we can’t mold that.

BJ:    Interesting. So I guess that’s the whole idea of DFM or design from manufacture?

KM:   So in design from manufacture, you need to consider the final fabrication process and you also need to consider the final assembly process. You want to minimize the number of parts, you want to make assembly as easy and simple as possible, and you want to really optimize your individual part design for the technique that you’re going to fabricate the part from. So as Leon mentioned, if you’re going to have an injection molded part, you’ve got to be talking to the injection molding vendor that you’re considering early on to get their input. You need to be considering good design practices for fabricating the part in that way and that will really make your timeline shorter as opposed to if you do not consider that and then sort of threw it over the fence to the fabricator in the end and found out that you had a lot of problems.

BJ:    Do you have any examples in the past in what you consider good DFM and how it leads to higher quality and lower cost?

LM:   Sure. So if you’re asking about when we instill design from manufacturing and are worried more about cost or quality, there’s a balance here. There’s a requirement specification that lives with us and grows throughout the project from beginning to end. These are the things that must be instilled with the product design itself. Some of those can even be user requirements. They can be weight associated, they can be the angle of the display. These are given. You must resolve these issues.

Now you want to minimize — as Katie had said, you’ve got to minimize your overall assembly, the complexity of that assembly, how many screws are involved to put this assembly together and how many parts and how many tools, what the capital expenditure to make this design happen. So we’re always concerned with that flow of complexity to resolve these solutions, giving it the right aesthetic appeal, give it the right ergonomics but at the same time at the end how much is this going to cost.

This is part of our project plan upfront. Our customers don’t know come at the end of the project and find out that the tooling expenditure or the unit cost for this device is twice what they expected because we instill this at the beginning of our project. We figure out the balance of quality. Well quality is always high but we figure out the balance of aesthetic quality and of the production costs that are involved to make this thing happen.

KM:    Right, so that’s a good point. I’ll give you an example of a recent project that Leon and I worked on together where some of our design decisions were driven by the ultimate cost to manufacture the parts. We were working on an assembly together where we had a mechanical structure inside of some enclosures and the enclosure is obviously very important, the aesthetic look of the enclosures is obviously very important. We were looking at early build of materials and the cost to fabricate some of the custom elements of that assembly.

At that time, we looked into different fabrication options and were able to incorporate into the design early on some aluminum die-cast components that combined individual machined components and overall reduce the cost of the final product. If we had waited until we were ready to launch in manufacturing to make that conversion to die-cast components, we would have been doing a lot of rework to figure out how to incorporate the die-cast elements into the mechanical assembly. So that’s just an example of a choice you can make early on in the design that can make things a lot easier for you down the road to help reduce the cost of the products.

BJ:  Well it sounds like design can have a dramatic impact on the ultimate cost of a device.

KM:    It certainly can. The choices that you make early on about what type of fabrication processes to use and how to design your mounting surfaces even within your parts is very important. So if you’re using a die-cast part for example, can you create geometries so that you can use an as-cast geometry instead of having to have secondary machining because your features are not in the correct direction for the mold. Just considering how you’re mounting things to minimize that additional machining or for injection molded parts for minimizing side actions can save you a lot of money down the line. You just have to be thinking about that upfront in your design.

BJ:   Interesting. So are there any general global perspectives or global advice you’d give to let’s say a company, a new venture and they’ve got an idea for a device, you know, sort of the big picture on what they should be thinking about and the philosophy they should use as they approach this process?

LM:     Well, Brett, it’s definitely to be user centered. You know, in the end the customer has to be happy with this product. So if you’re not basing your plan and your approach to resolve and develop this design on the user needs and if you don’t fully understand what they are and the complexity of those needs, if you don’t bring those in to play at the beginning, then you have quick fixes that have to happen during your evaluations. Because step by step you’ll evaluate your development process with users and if they come back to you and you haven’t considered their main needs, then you’re going to find yourself in a lost circle here and spending a lot of time and money that is unnecessary to get this done.

BJ:      That sounds like great advice. Well thank you guys. It’s a terrific insight on the process of bringing a device to market. It sounds like you’ve got some good insights on how to accelerate it and do it in an intelligent fashion. So thanks for joining us today.

LM:    Brett, thank you very much for your time.

KM:    All right. Thank you.

BJ:    So that is Leon Marucchi and Katie McHugh with the international design firm MPR Associates, which has been specializing in the medical device area for many, many years. Thanks for joining us today guys. Thank you all for our listeners. Brett Johnson from OneMedRadio in New York signing off. Good day.

MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.onemedplace.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/conference1.jpg

The results from core holes 18 through 23 tested the western extension of the Moss stockwork vein system.

The company said it hit 17 metres of 1.03 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold equivalent in hole AR-144C, including 1.37 metres of 5.09 g/t gold equivalent, and 15 metres of 1.04 g/t gold equivalent in hole AR-159C, as drilling continued to expand the western extension.

“We are very pleased to report that Phase II drill results have further extended mineralization on the western extension at Moss," said chief geologist, Dr. Bob Thompson.

"The gold/silver mineralized structure now spans 6,000 ft on strike, remaining open to the West, East and at depth. High-grade feeder veins were intersected to the south and are believed to be associated with historic mining activity dating back to the early 1900’s.

"Overall, results further confirm that the Western Extension at Moss contains remarkably uniform gold and silver distribution over substantial widths."

The company said results have now been reported for all phase II drilling, including 18 reverse circulation drill holes and 23 diamond drill (core) holes.

"We continue to encounter multi-metre, 1+ gpt Gold Eqv intervals and multi-gram hot spots, contained within 40+metre intersections, running well above internal cut-off grades," continued Thompson.

"It is this type of consistent mineralization that will undoubtedly play a vital role in boosting the overall size and tonnage of the contained Gold-Silver resource at Moss, as we continue our expansion west of our current NI 43-101 Gold-Silver resource."

In March of last year, Northern Vertex acquired the rights to 70 percent of the Moss gold-silver project, where the company drilled a substantial amount to delineate an NI 43-101 compliant gold-silver resource.

CEO Ken Berry says the company drilled off a current resource of 590,000 ounces of gold equivalent, 90 percent of which is in the measured and indicated category.

A resource update is expected to follow shortly.

Earlier this month, the company announced results which included 20.12 metres of 1.67 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold equivalent in hole AR-140C.

Since the joint venture project with Northern was announced in March 2011, the project has completed 87 drill holes through reverse circulation, diamond drill and coring techniques.

Northern Vertex is a gold exploration and development company operating principally in the United States and Canada. The company also has the earlier stage Copley project to its name, which is located in the Nechako region of central British Columbia.

The Tacuru target is the first gold soil anomaly drilled on the 14.8 kilometre-long X-Mile gold trend at the company's Paso Yobai property.

The company also announced the start of a second operating shift at the Independencia mine pilot plant, which also forms part of the Paso Yobai gold project.

In early March, the gold explorer unveiled assay results from the first five diamond drill holes located within the Tacuru gold target on the X-Mile trend.

Assay results revealed 4.09 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold over a 25.5 metre intersection in drill hole DDH- LAT-BT-02. The first drill campaign, the company said, found a new mineralization style characterized by high-grade fine gold disseminated in sandstones.

The company said it resumed drilling on May 8, following new trenching at the site.
Latin American's second program aims to delineate mineralization along the trend, drilling at step-out intervals of 40 metres.

"We are eager for this second round of drilling at Tacuru after the excellent initial results," said CEO Miles Rideout.

"The new style of Tacuru mineralization adds to our geological insight, information we'll continue to exploit in future targeting."

"We are also pleased that the pilot plant is now routinely exceeding 90% of the designed capacity of 5 tonnes per hour.

"We have observed a steady improvement in production as our plant technicians have learned to optimise flow rates and process cycles."

With the plant operation well in hand, the company said it has prepared a second operating shift for the Independencia Mine concentrator plant, which speeds development.

The second operating shift at the concentrator plant, where it is bulk sampling on the Discovery Trend, became effective on May 9.

By open-pit excavation to 20 metres depth along the Discovery Trend, the company expects to expose and bulk sample the gold-mineralized lenses and ore shoots.

Recovered mineralization will be processed at the pilot plant using gravitational concentrators and then smelted into gold dore.

"Any net revenues realized from these operations will subsidize continued drilling at our pending gold targets," Rideout continued.

In addition to the Paso Yobai project, the company's Itapoty diamond project and Chiriguelo rare earths-niobium property are also located in Paraguay.

The EIA also reported gasoline supplies declined by 2.8 million, and distillates inventories were down by 1 million. The analysts surveyed by Platts had forecast gasoline inventories down 480,000 barrels and distillates stockpiles up 120,000 barrels.

The results also prompted the company to discontinue its 20 cent per share quarterly dividend in order to generate cash savings of roughly $175 million on an annual basis. The company hopes to use this cash to fund its transformation plan.

Shares fell 16.3 percent to $27.9 Wednesday at noon.

In February, the retailer began a multi-year transformation that includes eliminating hundreds of sales events in favor of everyday prices on most items. It is also remodeling stores into what eventually will become homes for 100 separate shops, in its effort to become a more fashion-oriented chain.

The company posted a net loss of $163 million, or 75 cents a share for the period that ended April 28, compared to last year’s profit of $64 million, or 28 cents a share.

Adjusted net loss, excluding the markdowns that resulted from efforts to align to the new strategy by reducing inventory levels, as well as restructuring costs and pension-plan expenses, was $55 million, or 25 cents per share.

Customer visits to its retail stores in the first quarter fell 10 percent, with large declines seen on weekends.
Net sales decreased 20.1 percent, to $3.15 billion, well below revenue of $3.41 billion analysts were anticipating.

The drop reflects the effect of the company’s departure from its outlet business, it said.

Comparable store sales declined a whopping 18.9 percent, also failing to meet analyst expectations of an 12.2 percent decrease. Same store sales are an important metric by which to gauge a retailer’s health, as they exclude sales from stores that recently opened or closed during the year.

Online sales via jcp.com were $271 million in the first quarter, a decline of 27.9 percent from sales in the year-ago period.

Gross profit margins fell to 37.6 percent, down from 40.5 percent a year ago.

In the attempt to decrease inventory levels, J.C. Penney saw a $53 million markdown reserve that created a 170 basis point impact on gross margins. Excluding this reserve, gross profit margin was 39.3 percent.

The company also incurred $76 million in restructuring and management transition charges in the latest quarter.

"Sales and profitability have been tougher than anticipated during the first 13 weeks, but the transformation is ahead of schedule," said new CEO Ron Johnson, who helped build Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) retail stores.

"Customers love the new jcp they discover in our stores. Our shop strategy has been applauded by vendor and design partners, our merchants have stepped up to the challenge of improving our merchandise and presentation, we have dramatically simplified our business model and reorganized our teams at headquarters and in our stores.

"While we have work to do to educate the customer on our pricing strategy and to drive more traffic to our stores, we are confident in our vision to become America's favorite store.

"We fully expect that the bold and strategic changes we are making to our operations will result in improved profitability and sustainable growth over the long term.”

For the year 2012, the company said it believes that continuous efforts to manage expenses, paired with additional operational efficiencies, will result in an acceleration in savings of around $900 million.

The retailer also said it expects to book more restructuring charges during the year and said that more inventory write-downs could be seen as it ends certain lines of business.

As a result, the company said it no longer anticipates meeting its annual net earnings expectation of $1.59 per share. The company did, however, stick with its adjusted earnings per share guidance of $2.16, which excludes non-cash qualified pension expense, restructuring charges and markdown reserves.

Analysts feel the company must change its advertising strategy to help customers adapt to the transformation better.

Mkango Resources (CVE:MKA) today reported more good grades from the latest drilling at its rare earth project at Songwe Hill in Malawi.

The best result from the three holes tested so far in the stage two programme was PX013, which returned 66.5 metres grading 2.3 per cent of total rare earths including yttrium.

The result included 18.1m grading 3.2 per cent and 10.2m grading 3.7 per cent.

The three holes are part of a 25 hole programme, now on its 24th hole, that has drilled approximately 4,500 metres to date. 

Independent consultant MSA Group will start work on a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for Songwe once all of the assay results have been received.

Drilling continues to intersect broad zones of mineralised carbonatite, carbonatite breccia and fenite, Mkango said.

Will Dawes, Mkango’s chief executive added: “Grades continue to indicate there are significant zones of higher grade mineralisation and the fact that we are demonstrating continuity between the drill intersections is also positive for the resource calculation.”

The Stage 2 drilling programme will complement a 13 hole, 2,000m Stage 1 drilling programme and systematic channel sampling completed in 2011.

It is focusing on an area measuring approximately 350m by 100m comprising rare earth enriched carbonatite, carbonatite breccia and fenite lithologies, largely exposed at surface.

Mkango added that analysis indicated the mineralised zones have the potential to extend to a vertical depth of at least 350m and remain open laterally within the extents of the Songwe carbonatite complex.

Now that Malawi’s rainy season is over, exploration will focus on other rare earth targets in the Phalombe licence, which contains Songwe Hill, and on zircon and uranium targets in the Thambani licence.

Mkango owns 100 per cent of both exclusive prospecting licences, which cover a combined area of 1,751 square Km in southern Malawi.

It says heavy rare earths together with yttrium comprise about 7-8 per cent of the total rare earths at Songwe but the value contribution is much higher. 

The main rare earths it is targeting are neodymium, dysprosium, europium, terbium and yttrium, which it believes have the best long term outlook.

These metals are used to produce powerful magnets, a market forecast to experience high demand growth in coming years as iPads, hybrid cars, and other high tech products rely on these these rare earth elements.

The ProntoForms mobile app does away with paperwork and redundant data entry, allowing field workers in the retail inspection arena, for example, to fill business forms out of the office from all major device platforms such as Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad, RIM's (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSE:RIM) Blackberry, Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Mobile platform.

The simple to add app, is meant to improve overall business productivity, and allows users in the field to create forms, generate reports, as well as capture signatures and photos within minutes.

The Windows phone release is an important step for ProntoForms since it will give the app interconnectivity to Microsoft Office File formats and to Microsoft cloud computing and management services, like SharePoint and SkyDrive.

"With the launch of new and innovative mobile devices by Nokia, and with AT&T's use of ProntoForms for businesses and organizations of all sizes, we couldn't be happier to ensure that our mobile forms solution is optimized for Windows Phone users," said TrueContext’s CEO Alvaro Pombo.

"We've been very pleased with the launch so far and see great promise in this platform for strong growth in multiple business segments."

Data on the mobile form is maintained securely in a data-center, and can be turned into emails or PDF reports, instantly accessible with an internet connection or connected to back office systems.

The rapid growth of smartphones and tablet devices in businesses has generated enormous interest in apps that maximize productivity for field workers, TrueContext said.

TrueContext announced a reseller partnership with AT&T in early 2010.

"ProntoForms from AT&T is one of our most popular mobile applications for businesses," said VP of advanced mobility solutions at AT&T, Chris Hill.

"The easy to use, yet highly scalable functionality of the application has been of interest to many different types of companies, from one person in operations using it for construction project cost estimates to large enterprises using it for facility management inspections, merchandising audits and insurance adjustments."

TrueContext  has a proprietary patent portfolio, from which the ProntoForms mobile app and web reporting portal are developed.

ProntoForms integrates quickly and easily with custom or standard back office systems, as well as popular cloud computing services, through the ProntoForms API.

The app hits the sweet spot in terms of what small and medium businesses desire for mobile applications - it is a tool that will help their mobile workforce increase productivity in the field, helping businesses save time and be more effective.

"We're excited about the release of ProntoForms for Windows Phone. This is the result of a collaborative relationship that, ultimately, brings strong value to our business customers,” said Microsoft’s general manager at Windows phone division, Eugene Ho.

"ProntoForms harnesses the power and productivity of Windows Phone, Nokia and AT&T to mobilize business in the field."

Earlier this month, TrueContextannounced a Canadian carrier agreement with Rogers Communications (NYSE:RCI) (TSE:RCI.B), that will see the company broaden its distribution for its ProntoForms app.

Under the deal, Rogers will offer its business customers across Canada the option of being billed by Rogers for TrueContext's suite of mobile form solutions, in addition to Rogers' products and services.

Shares were changing hands at 9.5 cents on Wednesday morning.

The iron ore explorer said that hole BISH-9 intersected 104.3 metres grading 32.7 percent iron including 56.7 metres grading 34.1 percent iron.

The results reported Wednesday are from the 20,000 metre definition and exploration diamond drill program at Shymanivske, which was started in October 2011.

Black Iron said it continues to be encouraged by the results of the infill drilling, and the intersection of thick iron bands in each hole, with grades exceeding 30% iron.

Other notable results included 35.7 metres at 28.9 percent iron in hole BISH-8, 14.3 metres at 33.6 percent iron in hole BISH-10, 42.2 metres at 32.0 percent iron in hole BISH-11 and 43.5 metres at 31.1 percent iron in hole BISH-12.

The drill program is designed to upgrade mineral resources, so as to allow a larger in-pit mineral resource estimate to be considered in the ongoing feasibility study for the project, the company said.

The campaign is also focused on exploration holes in the northern end of the property, where the company said it believes additional mineral resources may exist.

Ukraine-based Mekhanobrchermet (Research Institute of Mineral Processing in Ferrous Metals) has been hired by the company to complete independent metallurgical test work on the recovered drill core from the program.

Black Iron also noted Wednesday that, as announced earlier this year, no drilling is currently underway at the project, as the company obtains additional permissions required to drill.

The explorer is focused on advancing its 100 percent-owned Shymanivske project located in Kryviy Rih, Ukraine, which contains an NI 43-101 compliant resource with 373 million tonnes measured and indicated resources grading 31.3 percent iron and 480 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 30.2 percent iron.

The project is surrounded by five other operating mines including ArcelorMittal's iron ore complex. Management is confident that the existing infrastructure, including access to power, rail and port facilities, will allow for a quick development timeline to production for its project, the company said.

Black Iron also holds an exploration permit for the adjacent Zelenivske project, which it plans to further explore to assess the potential.

Net income was $2.56 million, or six cents a share, compared with a net loss of $1.77 million, or five cents a share, a year-prior.

For the first three months of the year, revenue stood at $37.3 million versus sales of $28.5 million, a year-earlier.

On average, analysts had forecasted per share earnings of seven cents, on $34.9 million in revenue, according to Bloomberg.

In early morning trade, the company’s stock rose 4.68 percent climbing to $24.85 apiece on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

"We are happy to report the best quarter and year in company history, in terms of number of patients supported, revenue growth, and profitability," chief executive Michael R. Minogue said in a statement.

"Abiomed is highly motivated to help thousands of patients and create significant shareholder value," Minogue added.

In the U.S., Impella revenue spiked 44 percent to $29.9 million. Worldwide Impella sales totalled $32.3 million, up from $22.6 million a year ago, representing a 43 percent rise.

The Impella is a pump that pulls blood from the left ventricle through an inlet area near the tip, and expels blood from the catheter into the ascending aorta, used for patients that have heart failure.

As targeted, an additional 26 hospitals purchased Impella 2.5 during the quarter, the company said, bringing the total to 631 customer sites.

Gross margin widened to 81.8 percent, compared to 79.5 percent in the prior year period.

Looking ahead, the company expects revenues for the year to be between $152 to $157 million, representing growth of 20 to 24 percent.

Global revenue of the Impella device is forecasted to rise by 30 percent.

The company said that with the robust antibody and T cell responses generated, it has achieved proof of principle.

By design, Inovio's SynCon flu vaccine is not matched to any single virus.

The company's SynCon technology allows it to design synthetic vaccines with the potential to protect against unmatched sub-types and strains of pathogens, including newly emergent, unknown strains of a virus that will periodically emerge through mutation, as in the case of the flu.

Importantly, the company said the avian flu vaccine generated a hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titer of 1:40 or higher against at least one of the six tested H5N1 strains in 8 of 17, or 47 per cent, of immunized subjects.

HAI measurements from the blood are used to assess the generation of protective HA antibody responses generated by a vaccine. Generating an HAI titer of 1:20 is generally regarded as a positive response to the vaccine, while a titer of 1:40 or higher in the blood of vaccinated subjects is generally associated with protection against seasonal flu viruses and has been observed in multiple subtypes, Inovio said.

Twelve of 17, or 71 per cent of vaccines generated an HAI titer of 1:20 or higher, indicating a positive vaccine response, against at least one H5N1 strain.

In an unprecedented result, two vaccinated subjects demonstrated an HAI titer of 1:20 or higher against all six strains tested.

"Our goal has been to develop a truly universal influenza vaccine capable of providing years of protection across subtypes and strains," said president and CEO, Dr. J. Joseph Kim.

"The protective levels of antibody responses generated by our universal H5N1 vaccine against diverse unmatched strains of this dangerous subtype provides proof of principle for our SynCon universal flu program and our other antibody-based vaccine products.

"We are planning further development initiatives for this program and look forward to forthcoming data from INO-3510, our universal vaccine for the influenza H5N1 and H1N1."

The major challenge to developing broadly effective vaccines against the flu is that within subtypes, there are hundreds of strains that can vary slightly and that can frequently mutate to create new strains, the company said.

Today's vaccines provide protection by matching targeted virus strains, which are those predicted to an issue in the next flu season - but they often fail to be protective because the predicted strains often change as the next flu season emerges.

Subtypes can also reassort, Inovio said, meaning strains from different subtypes combine with one another, which is usually the cause of pandemic flu outbreaks.

For example, a strain of the deadly influenza subtype H5N1, which has killed about 60 per cent of everyone infected by the virus but does not currently pass easily from person to person, may combine with a strain of H1N1 or other subtype that has a high infection rate - creating a more virulent new strain.

Inovio also said that several recent published studies have shown that current H5N1 viruses can be manipulated to become more infectious.

There is therefore a clear need for universal flu vaccines capable of protecting against multiple, changing strains of the flu.

In the phase I study reported on Wednesday, a total of 17 patients completed a full H5N1 immunization regimen, consisting of two intramuscular vaccinations with a synthetic DNA vaccine encoding three flu antigens. This was followed by two intradermal vaccinations of only the HA antigen, using Inovio's skin electroporation device.

The vaccine was found to be well tolerated at each immunization. Reported adverse events and injection site reactions were mild to moderate and required no treatment, the company said.

Previously, Inovio reported that two intramuscular immunizations alone generated strong T cell immune responses against 72 per cent of the vaccinated subjects. The T cell responses from this study "mirrored the best-in-class T cell responses" generated from Inovio's other Phase I SynCon vaccine trials for HIV and cervical cancer/dysplasia, the company said.

Inovio is advancing its universal flu vaccine strategy with a second phase I influenza vaccine study, which will test the INO-3510 multi-subtype SynCon vaccine consisting of the H5N1 and H1N1 subtypes, delivered only through intradermal electroporation.

The aim is to provide cross-strain protection against H1N1 and H5N1 viruses.

The company is also advancing its H3N2 and Type B SynCon vaccines through preclinical development. Its plan is to combine these components into a single universal flu vaccine, which could protect against multiple divergent strains of seasonal and pandemic flu viruses.

Inovio's clinical programs include phase II studies for cervical dysplasia, leukemia and hepatitis C virus and phase I studies for influenza and HIV.

The company noted that assays for 64 holes at Cerro Moro are currently available, and results for a further 100-plus drill holes are pending.

Of the 64 drill holes presented on Wednesday, Extorre said that 50 are from 12 new or previously poorly-tested targets.

Two drill programs are running at the site at the same time - one is to complete enough in-fill drilling to enable all “inferred resources” for the first two years of mining to potentially be recalculated as “indicated resources”, while the other program is aimed at discovering new high-grade veins or vein extensions to add to the known Cerro Moro resources.

Significant results from in-fill holes that the company completed at the Zoe target include hole MD1552, which intersected 5.00 metres at 54.0 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 7,155 g/t silver (197.1 g/t gold equivalent), including 2.45 metres at 109.3 g/t gold and 13,561 g/t silver (380.5 g/t gold equivalent).

Hole MD1571 returned 1.60 metres at 22.8 g/t gold and 674 g/t silver (146.2 g/t gold equivalent), including 0.40 metres at 93.4 g/t gold and 2,638 g/t silver (146.2 g/t gold equivalent).

"One drill rig remains on the infill drilling program on our principal prospects, namely Zoe, Escondida, Loma Escondida and Gabriela," said exploration manager Matt Williams.

"Our aim is to ensure that the drilling density is sufficient in areas that would fall within the first two years of a potential mining scenario (at 1300 tonnes per day) to estimate "indicated mineral resources".

"This program is nearing completion, with the drilling at Zoe, Loma Escondida and Gabriela essentially complete."
Williams added that the Extorre exploration team has been actively exploring in the immediate Cerro Moro area using mapping, geochemical sampling and trenching to identify new veins.

"This has resulted in numerous new discoveries, including the Guillermina and Seco prospects that are currently being drill tested," he said.

On the Guillermina Vein, notable results included 0.78 metres at 14.5 g/t gold equivalent in hole MD1537, including 0.38 metres at 25.9 g/t gold equivalent.

"Re-interpretations or additional work has led to additional testing of many previously known but poorly tested prospects such as Michelle, Moro, Marina, Barbara and Barbara North."

Williams noted that a total of eight drill holes have been completed targeting "Zoe East", an extension of the Escondida-Zoe structure.

Extorre said that drilling will continue as the company has returned minor gold intercepts and believes the principal structure is yet to be located within the area.

"Of the 50 holes drilled at the other prospects, some require additional drilling to determine the significance of the initial intercept or are low grade," said Williams.

"We are encouraged by many of the early results and will focus follow-up drilling on potential structural orientations favourable to wider intercepts."

Over 100 drill holes from more than 17 prospects are awaiting assay results, said the company.
In early April, Extorre announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment for potential mine development at Cerro Moro.

The study, which was based on a NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate from November, modelled a nine year mine to produce 850,000 gold ounces and 47 million ounces of silver.

This proposed mine would produce an average of 248,036 ounces gold equivalent per year for the first five years, at a cash cost of US$303 per gold equivalent, with a 1,300 tonne per day throughput.

In this scenario, the mine has a 24-month payback period and pretax internal rate of return of 63 percent and a pretax net present value, at a five percent discount, of $737.4 million.

At Cerro Moro, exploration with four drills is ongoing. The program is designed to boost total resources and to in-fill some areas for mine planning.

Separately, the company commented Wednesday on current market conditions for its shares, saying that it does not believe current conditions reflect the "underlying value of its high quality asset at Cerro Moro."

Extorre said it is evaluating the potential for staged mine development to take advantage of the substantial cash flows which would be generated from the "very high grade" mineralization accessible by open pit mining.

The company would then fund the balance of the capital expenditure reported in its last PEA through operating cash flow. Initial capital expenditures for the 1,300 tonne per day scenario were estimated at $284 million.

"This initiative is advancing rapidly as the company is particularly sensitive to shareholder dilution," said Extorre in a recent statement.

"The financing alternatives being pursued will be those that are the least dilutive to shareholders."

Extorre said it expects a public announcement on the parameters for the proposed staged development initiative before the end of May.

The November 2011 resource estimate for Cerro Morro gives indicated resources of 1.35 million ounces gold equivalent, comprising 2.42 million tonnes (Mt) at 7.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 498 g/t silver, for a gold equivalent grade of 17.4 g/t.

In the inferred category, the new estimate consists of 1.05 million ounces gold equivalent, comprising 4.74 Mt at 3.5 g/t gold and 172 g/t silver for a gold equivalent grade of 6.9 g/t gold.

Net earnings rose to $697 million, or $1.04 per share, on $16.86 billion in revenue in the latest quarter that ended April 28.

This compared to a profit of $689 million, or 99 cents per share, on $15.93 billion in sales, a year-prior.

On average, analysts had expected a per-share profit of $1.01, on $16.80 billion in revenue, according to Bloomberg.

In pre-market trade, the retailer’s stock rose 2.02 percent to $56.19 apiece on the New York Stock Exchange.

Same-store sales rose 5.3 percent, up from two percent growth a year ago. This is considered to be a key metric to gauge a retailer’s health as it excludes sales from stores that recently opened or closed during the year.

Number of transactions rose by two percent, while the average transaction amount increased by 3.2 percent.

In the latest quarter, the company’s U.S. credit card segment saw average receivables decline by about six percent to $6.1 billion from $6.5 billion a year earlier.

The retailer said investments in Target’s Canadian market entry crimped per share profit by eight cents in the first quarter. Target plans to open its first stores in Canada in 2013.

Gross margins eased to 30.2 percent from 30.4 percent, reflecting downward pressure from Target’s growth strategy, partly offset by higher-margin sales.

Target also bought back 10.5 million shares of its own stock for a total investment of $604 million during the quarter. It paid $201 million in dividends.

The Minneapolis-based retailer has 1,764 stores across the United States and a website.

Already, without any dedicated full time sales resources, the business, which was established in 2007, has provided its services to several Fortune 500 companies and other major brands, advertising agencies and publishers, including Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), ESPN, Time Inc, Ford (NYSE:F), Nike (NYSE:NKE), Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) and Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB).

The company's services allow marketers to create individualized mobile interaction across media channels as well as for customer “touch points” like retail environments and events. It also supports tracking of customer behaviour in real time, which has previously been impossible for off-line media such as print advertising, says Snipp CEO Erik Hallstrom.

Just last week, the company inked a deal with James Hardie, a branded building products manufacturer, whose products are sold through building materials distributors and in Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) stores across North America.

James Hardie Building Products, a division of fiber cement siding provider James Hardie Industries SE (NYSE:JHX), will use Snipp’s technology platform to facilitate mobile interaction with its customers in support of marketing and customer service strategies in several distribution channels.

The deal, says Hallstrom, is an example of a “paradigm shift in how building product suppliers, and B2B companies in general, are starting to view product packaging and labeling as a key channel for marketing and customer service – by utilizing their customers' mobile phones.”

Indeed, these companies are transforming the use of packaging from a place for “basic and static text” to a centerpiece for “rich, interactive and instant communication” with their customers.

“The needs of B2B companies run much deeper than the needs of consumer goods companies, as it’s not just about a marketing message – but also about customer service and logistics service information,” says Hallstrom.

Snipp's “Mobilize Me” platform supports several input mechanisms for mobilizing campaigns, including text message, QR codes, Microsoft tags and Snapp tags, which uses the company's image recognition technology to allow any image to become a tag, like brand logos, UPC codes and more.

The platform then delivers a variety of content experiences to customers as part of sales tactics, including SMS, mobile web pages to collect data, emails, mobile videos, audio, sweepstakes, coupons, and ringtones, among others.

The “comprehensive nature” of the “Mobilize Me” platform makes it ideal for implementation as a broad mobile marketing capability for brands, says Hallstrom, supporting ongoing initiatives such as loyalty programs and for managing multiple campaigns over time with integrated customer data.

Also, since the platform is delivered from the “cloud”, “it avoids complex, time consuming and costly IT implementation and integration.”

For clients like James Hardie, potential and existing customers will be able to respond to packaging and labeling with their phones to receive “quick and contextually relevant information” back, says Hallstrom, from product installation videos to targeted incentives and instant connection to a customer service centre.

Customers could also re-order products through Snipp’s mobile platform, which allows building product suppliers to create individualized communication by location, time, customer activity and intent.

It also allows the collection and analysis of a “vast amount of new customer data” to further target marketing and sales, Hallstrom says.

“James Hardie is at the forefront of this paradigm shift to use mobile as a centerpiece of communicating with their customers through packaging.”

“It’s difficult for B2B companies to build loyalty solutions that work seamlessly, as they deal with multiple distributors and retailers - and also from an IT point of view.”

As another example of Snipp’s platform, the company worked on the ESPN and Taco Bell campaign during the fall college football season. Here, Taco Bell partnered with ESPN to engage customers using exclusive college football video content. QR codes and SMS were used on printed materials to showcase ESPN content for fans through streaming video.

In another example of brand engagement campaigns, Oreo fans could take photos of any Oreo packaging with their mobile phones and receive back content, coupons and access to contests. There are many examples like this where companies can use product packaging using Snipp's service to launch dynamic campaigns without having to make expensive changes in the packaging or marketing collateral, says Hallstrom.

In addition, magazines like GQ and American Baby have used Snipp to determine the effectiveness of particular advertising channels and marketing messages. Stylewatch uses Snipp data to determine in real-time which fashion items are popular with readers and then fine-tunes editorial content based on these reports.

The Washington-based company, whose revenue is derived from design planning and execution of the mobile marketing campaigns, has also been boosting sales capacity lately, hiring three sales people earlier this year.

Snipp’s CFO Anthony Durkacz says “we are currently ramping up hiring with focus on sales to meet demand." The company estimates the mobile marketing market will be about $6 billion by 2015.

Durkacz boasts that the company has recurring revenue streams from several of its main clients, which is "proof of [its] ability to provide relevant solutions as clients move from experimenting with mobile marketing to integrating it into the core of their marketing overall.” Some brands will also begin to develop in-house capabilities, which could provide licensing opportunities for Snipp. "It's rare to see a 20 cent stock with so many Fortune 500 customers and partners," adds Durkacz.

As the company scales up its sales team, for potential international partnerships and licensing deals, it predicts it will be profitable in 2013, with projected revenue of more than $5 million in 2015. Snipp also strives to keep the lowest overhead costs possible, with a supporting back office in India.

The company raised $2 million in an oversubscribed private placement at the beginning of March, most of which will be used to build out its sales team. The funds will also be used to add new technologies to its platform.

With no entrenched competitors yet, and evidence of the beginnings of industry consolidation, Hallstrom sees a potentially large and diverse market.

Snipp, which is currently trading at around 15 cents, has a market cap of $3.4 million and generated $0.4 million of revenues in 2011.

Tethys Petroleum (LON:TPL, TSE:TPL) has been awarded a new oil field in Uzbekistan, from which it says there is good potential to increase production.

The Chegara field currently has limited production from three wells and lies 14 km south-west of the firm's existing North Urtabulak asset.

It has been the subject of minimal drilling and Tethys believes with more work, the firm can increase production "substantially".

The deal for Chegara is for a 25 year production enhancement contract.

Tethys also announced today it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NHC Uzbekneftegaz concerning a potential exploration  agreement for a block in the North Usyturt basin in Uzbekistan. 

The company believes this basin has very similar geological characteristics to the Akkulka block where it has the Doris oil discovery.

Chairman and president of Tethys, David Robson said he was delighted at the award of the Chegara field: "I would like to thank our partners, Uzbekneftegaz, Uzneftegazdobycha and Uznefteproduct, for their support and hard work in negotiating this new contract."

"We believe the Chegara Group of Fields has good potential through increasing production in existing wells and also large upside in undrilled areas."

Tethys has interpreted a significant volume of historic seismic, drilling, geological and production data relating to Chegara and plans to initially work over the existing wells.

It also plans to collect data to identify undrilled areas that provide high potential upside. 

Currently there are only State reserves assigned to the field and no figures yet under NI 51-101 reporting procedures, it said.

Earlier today, the company revealed it had increased the resource estimate for its Kazakhstan assets to 1.17 billion barrels of oil.

The upgrade was a result of additional 2D and 3D seismic acquisition and interpretation as well as drilling data, which has also increased the chance of success in the area.

Separately, it also told investors that its revenues jumped 45 per cent to US$6.49 million in the first quarter compared with the same period of 2011 as production increased to 5,117 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 4,531 boepd.

Average output from the Doris field in Kazakhstan was 1,038 bopd -  up from 337 bopd a year earlier.

In addition to the oil resource, the new resource report - which is compliant with the NI51-101 standard – estimated the company’s associated unrisked gas prospective resources at 231 billion cubic feet (bcf).

There is also a separate, non-associated gas resource of 375 bcf.

The upgrade was a result of additional 2D and 3D seismic acquisition and interpretation as well as drilling data, which has also increased the chance of success in the area.

Tethys is now preparing to spud the AKD07 well, located to the south east of the original AKD01 (Doris) discovery well, in mid-2012 to test the Dyna exploration prospect that currently has a recoverable resource estimate of 128 million barrels of oil.

The well is also targeting 3P reserves at the Cretaceous Aptian sand level and a Jurassic sand similar to the horizon that tested oil in the AKD03 exploration well.

To date, over 13,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) have been tested from exploration and appraisal wells in and around the Doris oil discovery.

“We are extremely pleased with this significant increase in our estimated oil resources in Kazakhstan,” said chairman and CEO of Tethys David Robson.

“With oil production forecast to steadily increase this year following the upgrade to the Aral Oil terminal, we believe that our strong and growing cash flow and upside in these large exploration targets provides a well-balanced development and exploration portfolio.”

A separate update from Tethys revealed that its revenues jumped 45 percent to US$6.49 million in the first quarter compared with the same period of 2011 as production increased to 5,117 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 4,531 boepd.

Average output from the Doris field in Kazakhstan was 1,038 bopd, up from 337 bopd a year earlier.

Minera IRL (LON:MIRL, CVE:IRL) said its Don Nicolas gold-silver project in Argentina has reached another major milestone as the permitting process has now started.

The company told investors today that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) has now been completed and presented to the secretary of mining of the Santa Cruz province of Argentina, marking the start of the permitting process.

According to the company, permitting, which is expected to take six months, should proceed expeditiously given the “outstanding” support from the authorities in Santa Cruz.

“The completion of the EIA and commencement of permitting marks another significant milestone in the development of the Don Nicolas Project in Patagonia,” said executive chairman of Minera Courtney Chamberlain.

“The future Don Nicolas Mine promises to be an attractive investment with considerable upside potential in a number of areas.

“We remain confident that we will have our first gold pour from Don Nicolas in late 2013.”

Don Nicolas will be a 350,000 tonne per year open pit mining operation producing 52,400 ounces of gold and 56,000 ounces of silver each year. 

It will cost around US$55 million to build and operating costs are estimated at US$528 an ounce, giving a margin of more than US$1,000 an ounce at current gold prices.

The mine is currently estimated to have a relatively short 3.6 year mine life but the company expects future exploration to extend this significantly.

Ascot Mining (PLUS:ASMP) said increased mining at the Chassoul gold project in Costa Rica has led to increased gold production.

The company said 153 ounces of gold dore were produced in February this year, with 208 ounces generated in March, and 252 ounces in April.

"This progress should help enable the company meet its initial production target of 1,500 ounces of gold per quarter later this year," it said in a statement.

A further positive consequence of the improvements was a second consecutive net monthly operating profit of US$54,000 in April, compared to US$33,000 in March," it added.

Since January this year, the new Upper Amarilla/Negra vein has been providing the bulk of the ore feed to the plant and a new zone to the left has also been opened up.

A second underground mining crew has been mobilised to work the Lower Cajeta vein to supplement ore production from the Amarilla/Negra system, said Ascot.

The company also noted, following the announcement from PLUS Markets Group (LON:PMK) yesterday, that it remained committed to moving the company's listing to AIM and TSX, and further announcements concerning the move would be made in due course.

Plus is to close after the small cap stock exchange owner failed to find a buyer or new funding and said its regulated activities would be wound down over six months to avoid market disruption.

Africa-focused resource company Caledonia Mining (LON:CMCL, TSE:CAL) has appointed corporate lawyer Richard Patricio to its board as a non-executive with immediate effect.

Patricio is currently vice president of legal and corporate affairs at Pinetree Capital, a Toronto-based financial firm that is a long-standing shareholder in Caledonia and currently holds just over 10 per cent.

Stefan Hayden, Caledonia’s president and chief executive said: “I am delighted to welcome Richard Patricio to Caledonia. 

“I am confident that, with his perspective and experience, he will be a valuable addition to the Caledonia board.”

Patricio is also currently a director at a number of Canadian resource companies, including X-Terra Resources, Dejour Energy and Mega Precious Metals.

He has also been a director at Quentzal Energy and Titan Uranium within the last five years.

He is also currently vice-president of corporate and legal affairs at Mega Uranium and Brownstone Ventures.

Caledonia Mining has an operating gold mine in Zimbabwe, two platinum-nickel exploration projects in South Africa and a cobalt-copper project in Zambia.

Last week, the company reported net profit for the first quarter of US$7.11 million, up from US$1.36 million in the previous quarter.

It also reported a strong production rate in April at its flagship gold project Blanket mine of 3,722 ounces or an annualised equivalent rate of 44,664 ounces, more than the targeted annualised equivalent rate of 40,000 ounces.

Shares in the company currently stand at 4.85 pence.