Fine Art's shares sparkled on news of a first half profit for the group, whose sales are heavily dependent on the Autumn season and therefore traditionally show a loss in the six months to September.

The important home shopping division showed 14 per cent growth in sales -- a good performance when compared to other peer companies in the retail sector. The Burley House Wedding Directory, launched at the end of October, has also been well received.

Fine Art's other e-commerce initiatives, previewed in September, are also looking very promising, although their development will have cost up to £2m this year. Care4free, the charity internet service provider, now has almost 10,000 registered users, and a health and fitness channel was also launched this week.

Kelda Group's results, with pre-tax profits up 4 per cent to £122m, were ahead of many other water companies who have reported in the last few days, but the shares have plunged back below £3 in line with the rest of the sector.

The results were overshadowed locally by news of 500 fewer jobs at Yorkshire Water by the end of next year. The existing change programme is being accelerated in order to meet the pressure of price reductions determined by OFWAT which the company have decided to accept.

Meanwhile, the acquisition of Aquarion, a US water supply company serving Connecticut, moves nearer with completion likely before the end of this month. This and other diversification into environmental and food testing laboratories in Europe, and landfill in the UK through Waste Recycling Group (a 46 per cent owned associate) will boost unregulated profits in future.

For major investors in utilities, the level of dividends - and the scope for future growth - is perhaps more important than the share price. News of an 8 per cent increase in dividend for the year, to a level which "will form the base for future dividends" is therefore reassuring for all shareholders.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.