The software is called Accolade.It is the one fruit of years of effort at this company, which has had to be restructured and refinanced to make it viable. It had its first cash-positive quarter in the final months of 2004, although bottom-line losses will continue for most of this year. Yet there are encouraging signs of take-up from the chemicals and drug industries. The bundling of the software with Microsoft’s is also a positive development that should keep up the sales momentum.There are a couple of warning lights flickering amber, though. Sales growth was a little shy of forecast, as one licence sale slipped into 2005. And the company’s auditor insisted it say that all the trading update’s figures are “subject to the completion of the year-end financial close process”, suggesting discussion over accounting issues.This ought to put off the cautious investor, but Sopheon isn’t for them. This is high risk, high reward, and worth a punt.Gallaher’s expansion prospects fail to exciteIf you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

The number of cigarettes sold in continental Europe by Gallaher, the company behind Silk Cut and Benson & Hedges, has been hit by the flood of cheap imports from eastern Europe. So the company is cutting 250 jobs in the UK and Austria, it said yesterday, and shifting manufacturing to the cheaper labour markets of Romania and Poland.The shift is also part of the Great Tobacco Chase, where companies are racing to the East. They must do so, as health campaigns and tax hikes in the West cut the numbers of us puffing our lives away This will, however, be a slow process. Gallaher has a partner in that most potentially lucrative emerging market, China, but the authorities are getting defensive of their local industry and full exploitation of the market looks difficult for now.And Gallaher is going to be dominated by the West for a long time. A partial ban on smoking will start in the UK in 2009 and similar ideas are gathering momentum across Europe. Italy, the second biggest market after Germany, began its public ban this month.With an addicted customer base, Gallaher can continue to increase prices, and the cash will keep rolling in.

But investors have prized that sort of cash generation very highly in the past year or so. The dividend yield is down to 4.3 per cent and the share price-to-earnings ratio of 13 suggests little more room for capital growth. The possibility of a takeover from Japan Tobacco has sent the stock up 16 per cent since we said hold last May, but the chances of a bidder paying a premium for a business facing further regulatory restrictions seem low Quit.. Another strong Christmas for Tesco has put the supermarket behemoth firmly on track to become the first British retailer to break the elusive £2bn profit barrier when it unveils its annual results in three months. The group, which takes almost one in three pounds spent in Britain’s grocery stores, delivered like-for-like sales growth that outstripped all its rivals and topped City expectations.Excluding petrol, which benefited from last year’s high oil price, Tesco’s underlying sales rose 7.6 per cent over the seven-week festive period.

Despite last year’s strenuous comparisons and greater deflation, like-for-like sales growth actually picked up across its 1,900 UK stores from the 7.5 per cent it delivered in the third quarter. And this during a Christmas branded the worst for a decade by the British Retail Consortium.From music downloads to divorce kits, pet insurance to household mortgages, you name it and Tesco probably does it. The group already takes £1 in every £8 spent in Britain, but such is the grocer’s confidence that it revealed this week that it was thinking of opening a chain of stores that don’t even sell food.Following Asda’s lead, Tesco is planning to dip its toe in the ocean of non-food that makes up the rest of the high street by opening a dedicated non-food store to further exploit the power of its brand. Competitors should note that none other than a former Wal-Mart executive, Terry Price, helps run Tesco’s burgeoning non-food business. Indeed, it is the likes of Florence and Fred, one of its clothing lines, and its cut-price electrical goods that are driving the group’s top line: its non-food sales grew twice as fast as food sales over Christmas.Andrew Higginson, Tesco’s group finance director, said: “We’ve done a good job Our team has done a great job.

She wants the Government to toughen its planning policy, introduce stronger protection for suppliers and “call a moratorium” on future takeovers in the sector.Andrew Simms, at the New Economics Foundation, a left-of-centre think-tank, called Tesco’s Christmas figures “the rise of a suffocating retail super-clone”. He said: “Ignoring local campaigns against them, Tesco is shoving itself down the throats of consumers whether they like it or not. The danger of Tesco’s rise is that it becomes a one-way street. Sandra Bell, at Friends of the Earth, hopes the Government will answer its calls and clamp down on supermarkets’ growing dominance. “Many retailers are reeling from their worst Christmas trading for years, and it’s now clear that their loss has been Tesco’s gain,” she said. Even the BBC got in on the act, asking readers via an online poll: “Is Tesco taking over?” yesterday.For many, Tesco’s unfettered march into the hitherto untouched jewel of food retailing – local convenience stores – was the last straw. Tap “Every Little Hurts” into Google and the play on Tesco’s “Every Little Helps” slogan will yield a website aimed at protesting against the supermarket giant’s increasing sway in local communities.