Compass points way to positive territory for FTSE
Catering giant Compass pointed the way to positive territory for the London market today after reports suggested it was a takeover target.
US private equity house Clayton, Dubilier & Rice was identified as a potential predator of Compass, which rose 8.5p to 183.5p after a rough few weeks including the suspension of the head of its UK operations and another profits warning.
With shares in Compass up 5% and miners also gaining ground, the FTSE 100 Index extended early gains to stand 32 points higher at 5174.1 by mid-morning.
Oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell were also ahead by 7p and 13p at 613.5p and 1740p respectively despite lower crude prices as traders expected Hurricane Wilma to miss rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
It was proving a good day for companies dealing in commodities as miners occupied half of the top three places on the Footsie risers board.
Anglo American lifted 39p to 1544p, BHP Billiton gained 17p to 796p and Xstrata rose 25p to 1315p as investors took the view that the recent sell-off in the sector had been overdone.
The same appeared to be true in the banking sector where Royal Bank of Scotland was ahead by 9p at 1552p and Lloyds TSB lifted 3p to 444p.
But the exodus of investors from prospective merger partners Alliance UniChem and Boots continued, with shares in the firms falling 13.5p and 2p to 751.5p and 609p respectively.
Elsewhere, Sci Entertainment rose more than 26% or 126.5p to 605p as investors anticipated a takeover battle for the computer games maker which has confirmed receiving bid approaches from a number of parties.
Potential merger and acquisition activity also explained the 4% or 14.75p rise to 359.5p by Marconi after reports said a winner in the battle for the struggling telecoms firm could be announced as early as this week.
