Good start for FTSE
Consumer goods giant Unilever ensured the FTSE 100 Index made a good start to the week today after speculation it was proposing a Shell-style unification.
Speculation it was planning to end its 75-year-old dual stock market listing sent shares in the Anglo-Dutch firm more than 2% higher, up 14.5p to 591p.
It was the highest blue-chip riser as the Footsie advanced 8 points to 5415.9 by mid-morning, amid uncertainty for European markets following the German election.
That represented another four-year high and a turnaround from a weak start, when the Footsie lost 20 points in the opening minutes of trade.
Takeover activity was the focus of the market as investors cheered Deutsche Post’s cash-and-share offer for Bracknell-based Exel, which values the UK company at £3.7bn (€5.5bn). Exel shares jumped another 7p to 1235p, just short of the offer price of 1244p.
Other big climbers today included building materials group Wolseley, which advanced 19p to 1197p, followed by mining group Xstrata, up 22p to 1446p.
However, Argos group GUS headed lower as broker UBS downgraded its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “buy”. GUS was the heaviest Footsie faller, weakening 13.5p to 873p.
Supermarket group Morrisons was also downbeat as investors digested a report it was considering making its recently appointed senior non-executive director Paul Manduca deputy chairman, in place of David Jones, the chairman of Next. Shares lost 1.25p to 181.75p.
In the second-tier, investors warmed to IT firm LogicaCMG’s announcement of a £630.6m (€937m) offer for French group Unilog. Logica cheered 3% or 5p to 173p - recovering heavy losses on Friday even though it proposed an offering of around £389m (€578m) in new shares to fund the deal.
Discount retailer Peacock was also upbeat after it revealed its mystery suitor had put a price tag of around £404m (€600.2m) on the group. Shares advanced 9.75p to 324.75p.
