9:15 AM -- Spirent Communications plc gave its investors an early Christmas present Thursday with a positive trading update that sent its share price up by 2.25 pence, nearly 4 percent, to 60 pence on the London Stock Exchange .

"Based on trading during the fourth quarter to date the Company anticipates that results for the second half year as a whole will be somewhat ahead of expected levels," the test vendor stated in a trading update.

It seems, then, that the measures taken by the new board are having an impact. (See Spirent Cuts Deeper, Sticks With OSS and Spirent Makes Deeper Cuts .)

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading