United kingdom Daily news: MARKET REPORT: Invensys shares chased up on takeover buzz

MARKET REPORT: Invensys shares chased up on takeover buzz

By Geoff Foster

PUBLISHED: 16:16 EST, 30 April 2012 | UPDATED: 16:16 EST, 30 April 2012

For the umpteenth time in recent years, bid rumours were rife at Invensys. Shares of the software and computer services group were chased up to 233p in a frenzy of speculative buying before closing 10.6p higher at 222.1p on well above average turnover of 22million-plus.

Hot gossip that an overseas bidder was lining up a cash bid north of Â£2.4billion or Â£3 a share drove the stock higher.

Professional punters are convinced this time that an offer will materialise and heard that the Invensys board, led by veteran chairman Sir Nigel Rudd, had received a â€˜friendlyâ€™ approach which it is considering. Invensys has been deemed a takeover target for donkeyâ€™s years with its three divisions â€" rail signals, automation systems and controls â€" attractive to its larger rivals.

A devastating profits warning in January, which saw its share price collapse 44.5p in one hectic trading session, left it even more vulnerable to a bid.

Last year Joe Kaeser, chief financial officer at German industrial giant Siemens, said in an interview that the group was looking for large-scale acquisitions.

It repeated its insatiable appetite for acquisitions in January. Invensys was the name in the frame then and still is. Chinese rail group China Southern Rail is another name which continues to crop up and has plenty of cash at its disposal.

Early news that Spain, as expected, had reentered what is expected to be a long recession and mischievous credit rating agency Standard Poorâ€™s downgrading of 11 of Spainâ€™s biggest banks got the Footsie off on the wrong foot. It initially traded 49 points lower before closing 39.33 easier at 5,737.78. The FTSE 250 shed 62.15 points to 11,417.59.

Buying on recovery hopes helped power group Essar Energy rally 12.2p to 146.5p.

Reflecting a weaker gold price, Randgold Resources lost 190p to 5425p. Profit-taking after last weekâ€™s good gains on bid hopes left Man Group 3.5p off at 103.5p. The hedge fund giantâ€™s first-quarter figures are due today and dealers are not expecting them to set the world alight.

Trading systems software group Fidessa jumped 50p to 1550p after the company said that despite continued challenging conditions for its customers, it is continuing to grow albeit at lower levels.

Disappointing third-quarter results prompted heavy selling of Aquarius Platinum, 14.9p lower at 130p. Panmure Gordon expected to see a 4 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase in production. Instead production was down 7 per cent to the lowest since third-quarter 2010. Technology investment firm Angle touched 65p and closed 5.5p better at 61p after the company announced another breakthrough with its Parsortix cancer cell separation device.

It has successfully captured circulating tumour cells in prostrate cancer and breast cancer patient blood, which would aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer sufferers.

Broker Merchant Securities has a target price of 119p. It says this is a key milestone en route to developing a cancer diagnostic product for research purposes, with likely sales to cancer research centres and pharma companies developing cancer drugs.

Shares of Britainâ€™s largest coal miner UK Coal were red hot at 19.63p, up 5.01p, on further consideration of Fridayâ€™s revelation that it is back in the black for the first time in four years.

Dog of the day was Asterand which plummeted 1.25p, or 30pc, to 2.88p. The Human tissue services group announced it had called off the sale of the business. It has instead signed letters of intent to each of its two businesses, BioSeek and the non-BioSeek Tissue Based Solutions business, separately. This would lead to solvent liquidation of the group to return cash to shareholders.

Acquisition news lifted oil field services company Enteq Upstream 8p to 109.5p. It has bought XXT for Â£28.5million, a company that manufactures and sells high quality downhole electronic equipment and measurement while drilling system products. An institutional share placing by broker Investec at 100p a pop raised Â£42m to help fund the deal.

Wood Group eased 6.5p to 781p despite news that its subsidiary Mustang, has been awarded engineering and support contracts for the worldâ€™s biggest semi-submersible production facility.

Sporadic bouts of small buying lifted Consort Medical 7p to 663p. Investors nibbled on hearing that the first product to use its built-in dose counter has been given the green light by the US Food Drug Administration. Consortâ€™s Integrated Dose Counter (IDC) is being used in Tevaâ€™s QNASL nasal aerosol, which treats nasal seasonal allergy symptoms.

- Dealers wake up to an AIM float today. Portable accommodation units company Snoozebox is expected to leave its 40p placing price well behind after a successful fundraising of Â£12million. The board has identified over 150 annual events in the UK outdoor leisure market, such as motor racing, horse racing and golf, where it can provide its secure portable accommodation units which do not require mains services.