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Axon expects to beat full-year forecast     Axon Group plc anticipates its results for the year ending 31 December 2006 to be at least 10% ahead of current market expectations.    "Despite significant investment in our US operations, we have maintained the positive momentum that we reported at our interim results in September 2006, and we anticipate that our full year result will be at least 10% ahead of current market expectations," Mark Hunter, chairman and CEO, commented in a trading update.    While reporting interim results last month, Axon had said it had a “strong order book, a good pipeline and excellent operational controls,” and that it was confident performance in the second half of 2006 could be as good as these first half results.     Consulting.    Growth also continued in the Malaysia offshore centre, where Axon recently won a 10,000 man day development project for an existing client.    EMEA revenues grew by 29% to £48.3m (H1 2005: £37.5m), primarily driven by UK demand through the expansion of offerings to existing clients, as well as buoyant demand in the Public Sector, Utilities and Oil and Gas markets.    Axon said it’s now seeing a slight increase in demand for pan-European programmes and as a consequence Europe accounted for revenues of £7.7m (H1 2005: £5.4m).    Overall, EMEA delivered a good operating result before restructuring costs of £4.9m (H1 2005: £2.9m), which equates to 10.2% of EMEA revenues (H1 2005: 7.7%). This increase in profitability can be     attributed to reduced operating losses in the Middle East, high consultant utilisation and good client satisfaction.    Business Consulting, which is predominantly UK-focused, grew revenues by 61% to £10.6m (H1 2005: £6.6m) driven by the need for business consultants in large programmes such as Birmingham City Council. Systems Implementation delivered very strong growth and revenues grew by 84% to £40.4m (H1 2005: £21.9m) which was driven both by strong demand in the UK as well as acquisitions and organic growth in the US. Applications Management revenues grew by 4% to £12.4m (H1 2005: £11.9m) which was a good performance considering the firm’s decision to exit a low margin contract in the second half of 2005.        Axon exited its troubled business in the Middle East with an operating loss before restructuring costs of £0.5m (H1 2005: £0.9m) and £1.2m of restructuring costs relating to the exit of client contracts, the closure of infrastructure and the reduction in headcount.    High levels of demand across the business drove consultant utilisation up to 75% (H 2005: 72%) which, coupled with a reduction in loss-making contracts in the Middle East and general high levels of client satisfaction, delivered an excellent adjusted gross margin increase to 28% (H1 2005: 25%).    Axon said it was continuing its recruitment drive; it finished the first half with a total headcount of 959, which is up 23% since J        For the six-month period to 30 June 2006, Axon said turnover increased to £63.4m (H1 2005: £40.4m), and profit before tax increased 58% to £5.6m (H1 2005: £3.5m).    Axon said its core UK business continued to maintain its positive momentum and that it had secured new business with organisations such as Northgate, Birmingham City Council and Herefordshire Council.    Axon’s US expansion has continued; the company won new contracts with organisations such as Aquarian Water, Lansing Board of Water, Goodrich Corporation and Mobile Gas. The company said it had hired more people in the US than it gained via the January 2006 acquisition of TUI

Diamond reports healthy second quarter results     Diamond Management & Technology Consultants saw net revenue from continuing operations rise in the second quarter of the fiscal year 2007, up 13% to $41.2m, compared to $36.6m in the same period of fiscal year 2006.    Net income was $24.6m, or $0.73 per diluted share, primarily due to the $23m net gain from the sale of certain portions of its international operations during the second quarter.    "The market for our services is strong," said     Adam Gutstein, president and CEO of Diamond. "We are initiating and converting more opportunities, which resulted in 23 new clients in the second quarter.    "We are confident in the business and believe this is the right time to make investments for the future, to grow our business and to recognize people for their contributions to the company's performance," Gutstein continued. "We are making important investments in people-related programs     in the second, third and fourth quarters of the fiscal year that we expect will grow our revenue, improve profitability over the long term, and return superior results to shareholders."    Diamond said it served 63 clients in continuing operations during the second quarter of fiscal year 2007, compared with 51 clients in the first quarter and 43 in the same period last year. The company added 23 new clients in the second quarter compared with 12 in the first quarter and     17 in the year-ago period. The top five clients represented 41% of revenue during the second quarter compared to 40% in the first quarter and 40% in the year-ago period.    Diamond ended the second quarter with 502 client-serving professionals, up from 449 in the first quarter and 454 in the same period last year.    "Our improving trends and the continued strong market make us more positive on our outlook," said Gutstein. "As a result, we are raising     net revenue guidance for the third quarter and full fiscal year 2007."    For fiscal year 2007, Diamond is raising this figure from 16% to 20%. It anticipates its continuing operations to generate net revenue in the range of $168m to $174m, pretax income of $12m to $16m, and earnings per diluted share of $0.17 to $0.24.