Tarmac fell 5p to 569p despite whispers of share-buying by its bidder Anglo American flat at 3300p
Tarmac fell 5p to 569p despite whispers of share-buying by its bidder Anglo American, flat at 3,300p.Banks are another hot sector. NatWest jumped 4p to 1,446p on growing hopes that Royal Bank of Scotland, 15p lower to 1,389p, will counterbid.Utilities took a bit of a hammering after JP Morgan pulled the plug on the sector. RMC brokers ABN Amro and Warburg bolstered the offer by buying 19.9 per cent of Rugby in the market.Fellow building materials groups Blue Circle, up 4.25p to 316.25p, and Aggregate Industries, 0.75p firmer at 75.75p, are rumoured to be the next to go. However, the rally petered out in the afternoon as US arbitrageurs started selling BP and buying Arco as a cheap way into the UK group.Building stocks were also rocked by bids, real and imagined. Cement-maker Rugby rose a solid 14.5p to 132.5p after agreeing a 137.5p-per-share offer from rival RMC, down 40p to 870p. COLT Telecom (third-quarter numbers today) rose 45p to 1,865p on continued takeover talk.All this bid excitement helped to push blue chips higher.
The FTSE 100 ended 17.7 points better at 6,374.3 despite a wobbly opening for the Dow in New York, unsettled as it was by Microsoft’s legal troubles.The leading index was also boosted by BP Amoco, its biggest constituent. The oil giant flared 25p higher to 566p after good third-quarter results and a deal with the Alaskan government over its Arco acquisition. British Telecom fell 11.5p to 1,090.5p on fears that it might team up with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to bid for French conglomerate Vivendi. BT’s rivals were also caught up in the consolidation wave; Orange squeezed 41p higher to 1,606p on growing hopes that Mannesmann’s offer could be trumped by a bid by France Telecom and Vodafone AirTouch, 1p better at 318p. However, stronger rumours suggest that the pest control giant, 13.25p better at 220.5p at the start of an American roadshow, is working on a pounds 700m share buyback programme and, if anything, could be vulnerable to a takeover itself.The bid stories were not confined to food and pesticides. The story had a certain logic; according to the whispers, the leisure and TV giant is working on a split of its hotels and catering division from its media activities. If and when the carve- up happens, Granada will need to boost its food side and, at less than pounds 5bn, Compass would be a tasty and affordable morsel.Some stubborn dealers still believe that Compass could be sought by the business services group, Rentokil Initial.
The catering giant jumped 31p to 727.5p in good volume of nearly 4 million as buyers tucked into its shares. Traders were served an appetiser of rumours that trading in Compass’s main divisions is booming, but the main course was talk of a strike from a rival.
Freshly-baked stories suggested that Compass may be on the bid menu of Granada, 3p better at 513p. The long list of bid preys gained another name yesterday in Compass. Fund managers awash with cash are desperate to spot the next takeover targets and dealers are constantly being urged to pile into bid-friendly sectors.