London close: Alliance bid lifts Footsie
London closed in good heart, buoyed by a late bid approach to chemists chain Alliance Boots and a decent early performance on Wall Street after the US monthly jobs created figures came in as expected.
Alliance Boots, which formed last year through the merger of Alliance Unichem and Boots, said that the approach was preliminary and highly conditional, but declined to say who it was from.
Other potential targets shot up in sympathy. Supermarket chain Wm Morrison shares rose again as talk of a bid continues to do the rounds while J Sainsbury could face a bid next week according to one rumour.
Even old bid chestnuts Prudential and rival Aviva rose on hopes that that could be a resurrection on their merger plans.
Away from the bid talk, miners Xstrata, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto all fell as traders banked a quick profit after the sector's good show this week.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline was also weak after Goldman Sachs downgraded to "sell" from "neutral". Glaxo has a tough year ahead, the US broker reckons, including the loss of US patents for four products.
Insurer Royal & Sun Alliance also suffered after being kept at "neutral" by JP Morgan, although the price target goes up 5p to 155p to reflect the removal of the pension scheme deficit and the final sale of the US operation.
Bid talk even stretched down to the FTSE 250 with Bovis Homes strong at the end of play on talk of a move from sector leader Persimmon worth up to 1,300p.
On the results front, insurer and underwriter Catlin reported a bigger than expected pre-tax profit of $521m following the acquisition of rival Wellington last year and a benign year for natural catastrophes.
Paving specialist Marshalls lifted 2006 profits by 9.7% to £41.7m, ahead of forecasts, as sales rose by 5% to £378m. "Although poor weather conditions in January and early February meant a flat start to 2007, the underlying indicators are encouraging and the outlook for the year is positive," it said in a statement.
Support services group VT Group has won a contract extension worth over $100m to upgrade communications at the US Space and Naval Warfare Center. The award confirms the second year of a potential five-year contract, which, in total, is likely to be worth $577m, VT said.
Media group Mecom Group is to raise £570m through a placing of 731m new shares at 78p, doubling the amount in issue, The cash will fund its acquisition of a 75% stake in Berliner Verlag and 23.9% of Wegener.
Industrial belt maker Fenner says first-half results will met expectations despite the temporary slowing of coal demand in the United States arising from warm weather conditions and a hit of £1.3m from the pound's strength.
Among the minnows, Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping shot ahead as a rival dropped a lawsuit alleging patent infringement and paid OHM £50,000 costs.
IT facilities management group Netstore is still mulling its options over rival ICM despite having an initial bid approach firmly rejected last October.
T Clarke saw full year pre-tax profit drop 23% today, but the electrical engineering and contracting firm raised the final dividend by 5%, reflecting optimism about future prospects.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Alliance Boots (AB.) 930.00p +14.11%
William Morrison (MRW) 320.50p +4.23%
DSG International (DSGI) 175.50p +3.69%
Next (NXT) 2,073.00p +3.65%
Kingfisher (KGF) 257.25p +3.11%
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Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) 166.75p +2.77%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Xstrata (XTA) 2,405.00p -2.59%
Lonmin (LMI) 3,042.00p -1.49%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 471.00p -1.05%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,708.00p -1.02%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,435.00p -0.97%
Compass Group (CPG) 309.00p -0.96%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Catlin Group (CGL) 510.00p +6.14%
Collins Stewart (CLST) 233.00p +4.95%
HMV Media (HMV) 152.75p +4.62%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,123.00p +4.03%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 482.50p +3.93%
Bovis Homes (BVS) 1,145.00p +3.90%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Soco International (SIA) 1,320.00p -3.08%
Biffa (BIFF) 323.25p -2.71%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 171.00p -2.29%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 515.00p -2.28%
F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 172.50p -2.27%
Wincanton (WIN) 362.00p -2.16%
