Events group UBM (UBM) confirms market speculation its is in talks to acquire US peer Advanstar. The market appears to like the news, marking the shares up 2.2% to 614.5p.This would represent the first big strategic move by chief executive officer Tim Cobbold - formerly of banknote printer De La Rue (DLAR) - since he took up the reins in May. A mooted price tag of around $900 million would also ma

It's a part of the country that invariably evokes a sense of bucolic idyll; when we think of the West Country, scenes of Merrie Olde England, replete with rosy-cheeked cheese-rolling and apple-scrumping locals immediately spring to mind. And while there may still be some truth to the quaint rural cliche sold to tourists and out-of-towners, there is another vision of the South West that is wholly a

Good news comes in fours at FTSE 250 life and pension fund consolidator Phoenix (PHNX) which is sloshing in cash. During 2012 profits and dividends increased, management reduced gearing while generating cash at the top end of its targets, sending the shares up 6.9% to 647.5p. Phoenix made a £410 million operating profit, up from £395 million a year earlier, and generated £690 million cash. This

Asia offers investors valuable upside exposure to the prospect of a global economic recovery. But the region's domestic consumption-driven growth plays should also fare well if the green shoots in the US and Europe wither again.There can be no denying the People's Republic of China's (PRC) manufacturing-dominated economy lies at the mercy of the world economy, as does industrialised Asia constitut