Formerly called Glynwed, the business has been expanding the range of appliances to include fridges, and making a stronger push into the United States. Project 10,000 is its bid to increase the number of units sold each year from 8,000 to 10,000 by 2003.The group's AGM statement said trading is in line with expectations ahead of half-year results on 6 September These are expected to show profits of £14m. Aga is heavily second-half weighted and the guidance was that expectations for the full year (profits of £32m) are also unaltered. On a forward p/e of 15 the shares are no more than a hold.FPDSavills The FPDSavills property group has interests that span the UK, Europe and Australasia, where its remit ranges from managing facilities for the Hong Kong government to upmarket estate agency Its core residential business is holding up well. Demand for Savills' skills on the high-margin commercial investment side, driven by house prices rising at their fastest rate since the boom of the Eighties and the stock market gloom, is hampered only by a lack of available properties The shares look fairly valued on a p/e of around 8 times.

Hold.John LaingJohn Laing is a 150-year-old construction group which has transformed itself into more focused business. It now has two divisions, house-building and an infrastructure arm that works on private finance initiative-style projects.A trading statement this week showed it is "confident the group will return to acceptable levels of profitability in the current year". The housing market is strong, it says, and 18 of Laing's 23 infrastructure projects are operational. Although the shares have doubled since October, with the prospects of the infrastructure business and the proceeds from house sales, they are attractively priced.Taylor Nelson SofresTaylor Nelson Sofres is in market research, relatively immune from the wider swings of the economy or the media cycle. Underlying growth this year will be flat in the first half, but TNS says contracts and pitch activity means it is looking at 3 per cent to 5 per cent organic top-line expansion for 2002 Margins should gain 0.5 per cent to 10 per cent. The shares trade on a chunky forward multiple of 20, leaving TNS fully valued.FirstGroupShares in FirstGroup, the bus and train operator, enjoyed a bounce on its AGM trading statement Their start to the new financial year has been good.

In the UK, the company is focusing on improving service in its bus division and adding to its three rail franchises. In the US, it sees "significant scope" for growth.The shares trade on a lowly forward p/e of 9 with a decent yield of about 4 per cent. This appears attractive but the UK transport sector operates in a political cloud and recent crashes have added to the risks. The shares are best avoided.The above is a selection of recommendations from this week's daily investment columns. It is probably just as well stock markets don't make a habit of falling three years in a row.

If, as seems possible, they end down again this year, it will be only the second time this century such a thing has happened. It may be disheartening for most individual investors, but for our friends in stockbroking and the life insurance industry, it is the stuff of which potential nightmares are made. A market that stubbornly won't go up carries many perils, some of which are beginning to find their way to the surface of the market's consciousness. Moneynet It is probably just as well stock markets don't make a habit of falling three years in a row.