Hot small caps: Brown cuts house tax at start of fightback

LONDON (Reuters) - Following is a round-up of key small cap movers on the London stock market on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown cuts an unpopular tax on home purchases as part of a package designed to boost the country's slumping housing market and lift his flagging political fortunes.

11:54 a.m. - Mattioli Woods rises after FY and Evolution keeps "buy"

Shares in Mattioli Woods (MTWL.L) rise 2.4 percent after the AIM-listed pension consultant reports full-year results and Evolution Securities keeps its "buy' rating on the stock.

Mattioli Woods unveils pretax profit up 14 percent to 3.73 million pounds from 3.26 million in 2007.

Evolution reiterates its "buy" recommendation, noting that pretax profit is 0.2 million pounds ahead of forecast and it expects another creditable performance in the current financial year.

11:50 a.m. - Restaurant Group rises on upgrade

Shares in Restaurant Group (RTN.L) jumps 9.7 percent to 152.5 pence after the firm, which runs chains such as Frankie & Benny's, Chiquito and Garfunkel's, is upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" by UBS following a positive read-across from pub operator Greene King's (GNK.L) latest trading statement.

"Greene King has delivered a decent update, which seems to suggest the pub food sector is doing pretty well so that has pleased the market. The stock was upgraded by UBS as well and that has also given it a push," a KBC Peel Hunt analyst tells Reuters.