Market report. Thursday close

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

The takeover battle for Allied Carpets took a fresh twist today as investment company Wassall launched an 80p a share bid for the group.

At the same time Allied Carpets itself announced it was in talks over a 85p a share offer from a European carpet making company.

The flurry of announcements sent Allied Carpets shares rocketing 27% - up 18 1/2p to 86p.

Wassall gained 2 1/2p to 243 1/2p.

The late drama came on quiet day of thin trading among the blue chip stocks.

The FTSE-100 Index of leading shares got off to a strong start but was unable to hold onto its gains.

A weak opening on Wall Street reined the Footsie back and the index closed up just 14.4 points at 6383.9.

Telewest Communications took a pasting after yesterday's late announcement that it was buying the 50% stake in Cable London which it did not already own.

The market saw the £428 million price tag was too high and Telewest shares fell 10p to 246p.

Britain's biggest brewer Scottish & Newcastle pumped some life into the pubs sector with a bullish trading update.

The group jumped 17 1/2p to 625p as it said beer sales were better than at this stage last year.

This helped Whitbread froth 8p to 879p, Regent Inns gain 14 1/2p to 241p, Bass leap 33p to 864p and SFI Group jump 3 1/2p to 263 1/2p.

British Airways did its best to keep up spirits, jumping 21p to 416 3/4p.

Thin trading led dealers not to read too much into the airline's improvement, which was put down to strong gains in US carriers' shares amid a weakening oil price.

Where BA profited, Shell and BP Amoco lost, falling 18 3/4p to 504p and 50p to £11.62 respectively.

Rolls-Royce produced strong interim profits in line with expectations and pledged to post double digit earnings growth for the full year. But after a modest early rise, it fell victim to a bout of profit-taking, falling 8 1/2p to 248 1/4p.

Hilton jumped 5 3/4p to 243 1/2p as it confirmed plans for its Ladbroke betting shop business to offer off-shore tax free betting for UK punters from its Gibraltar offices.

Vodafone AirTouch jumped 65p to £12.98 on rumours it could be set for a joint venture with Bell Atlantic

Northern Leisure and Luminar both made strong gains on reports the two were considering a merger to create Britain's biggest clubs and bars group.

Luminar gained 25p to 957 1/2p and Northern put on 10p to 193p.

A profit warning from computer support services group Microgen battered its shares, which fell 31p to 175 1/2p - a 15% dive.

Alexon, the womenswear retailer, agreed a deal to buy menswear group Style Holdings. Style dressed up a snappy 9% - putting on 16p to 187 1/2p, while Alexon slipped 1 1/2p to 197 1/2p.

Property developer Merivale Moore was badly damaged after saying bid talks had collapsed. The group fell 21 1/2p to 95p.

The biggest risers in the FTSE-100 were Associated British Foods up 24 1/2p to 437 1/2p, Abbey National up 57p to £11.09, British Airways up 21p to 416 3/4p and Marks & Spencer up 20 1/4p to 403 1/4p.

The main fallers were Invensys down 15 1/4p to 324 1/2p, Granada Group down 25p to 571p, BP Amoco down 50p to £11.62 and Telewest down 10p to 246p.

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