STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UK small caps retreat from record close

The FTSE Small Cap index slips 0.3 percent, pausing after hitting a record close at 4,280.42 points on Tuesday as the wider market weakens, with junior listed AIM shares off 0.2 percent and the midcaps 0.6 percent lower.

Software (Berlin: SOW.BE - news) firm Anite (LSE: AIE.L - news) tops the FTSE Small Cap fallers' list, off 34 percent, after saying contract delays in its handset testing business will depress first-half revenue in the unit by 25 percent and hurt full-year results.

Panmure Gordon cuts its target price on the shares to 142 pence from 177 pence - albeit still well above the current price at 74.48 pence - while retaining its "buy" recommendation.

"The shares... will fall on the news but the structural drivers remain intact, and the competitive market has not changed/hardened. Buy shares when they are cheap, we think."

Smiths News (LSE: NWS.L - news) climbs 8.2 percent after it unveils an 11.6 percent rise in underlying pretax profit, with Oriel Securities lifting its rating on the stock to "buy" from "add", calling the results "solid" and saying the valuation is too cheap.

Smiths News trades on a 12-month forward price/earnings ratio of 8.7 times, well below the FTSE Small Cap index, which trades on 14.3 times, Thomson Reuters Datastream shows.

Reuters messaging rm://tricia.wright1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net