Shares News

Alliance & Leicester stood out in the U.K banking sector on Friday, with renewed bid speculation boosting the company's shares by more than 6% and helping the benchmark FTSE 100 gain ground. The FTSE 100 indexclosed up 0.9% at 6,091 points, as a stronger mining sector also supported the London market. European shares also ended higher, with M&A also in focus as a consortium of privat ...

This is Money5 May 2006 UK small caps ended the week higher, reflecting the wider market sentiment, with labelling group Timestrip in demand on the back of a contract win with food giant Nestle, dealers said. WANT TO KNOW MORE? READER SERVICE: Share dealing OTHER STORIES Market report: Friday close Dealers watch for Kingfisher predators New on the market Sharing the risks... and pr ...

European shares advanced Friday, helped by mergers-and-acquisitions news and diminished U.S. interest rate concerns after lower-than-expected job additions. London's FTSE 100closed 0.9% higher at 6,091, the Paris-based CAC-40gained 1% at 5,286 and Frankfurt's DAX Xetra 30increased 1.2% at 6,113. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 indexadvanced 1% to 342.11, as resource stocks such as BHP B ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 index extended gains sharply on Friday as fresh bid talk buoyed mortgage lender Alliance & Leicester (AL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , while the Midcap 250 index hit a fresh high led by brewer Greene King (GNK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) . By 4:19 p.m. the FTSE 100 was up 52.7 points or 0.87 percent to 6,088.9, while the Midcap index was 134.7 points higher at a record 10,091.3. Already strong shares pushed on again after a spike on Wall Street where the Dow ...

Strong demand for UK-listed hedge funds from private banks and sophisticated investors is leading to a mini-boom in this alternative asset class as large numbers of these funds look to raise more money by issuing new shares or launching new funds in coming weeks. // The sector, which briefly fell out of favour last year following poor returns in the months of April and October, is now firmly bac ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in Computacenter rose on Friday after the IT services firm reported a satisfactory first quarter and said it was proceeding with plans to return 75 million pounds to shareholders. Computacenter (CCC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , Britain's biggest seller of computer hardware to businesses, said trading strengthened during the latter part of March, offsetting a slow Janua ...

European shares advanced on Friday, helped by a positive end to U.S. trading, M&A news and curtailed crude, though trading was range-bound before a key U.S. economic report. London's FTSE 100rose 0.4% at 6,059, the Paris-based CAC-40gained 0.6% at 5, 263 and Frankfurt's DAX Xetra 30increased 0.6% at 6,075. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 indexadvanced 0.4% to 340.13, with resource s ...

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's biggest bank Santander is not in exclusive talks to buy Alliance & Leicester as a newspaper reported, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday. "There's nothing in the report," said the source, who asked not to be named. The City AM newspaper on Friday said Santander was in talks to buy A&L (AL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) for more than 6.5 billion pounds. Shares in Alliance & Leicester initially soared 6.9 percent on the news but dropped to trade 4.7 pe ...

Gold prices at 25-year highs helped AngloGold Ashanti more than double its earnings during the first three months of 2006. The world's third-biggest gold producer reported adjusted earnings for the quarter of $86m ($46.5m). The soaring price allowed it to sell its gold at $545 an ounce - a 14% increase on the previous quarter. But the South African firm said physical demand for gold had fallen because of the price hike. This was especially true in the jewellery sector and markets such as Ind ...

By Pete Harrison LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest ice cream maker Richmond Foods (RFD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) was scooped up on Friday in a 182 million pounds deal with U.S. fund manager Oaktree Capital. Richmond, which was founded by an northern English farmer in 1985 and makes Fab, Zoom and Orange Maid ice lollies, said Oaktree intended to combine Richmond with its German ice cream business Roncadin. The 750 pence-a-share recommended offer in cash allows Richmond to pay a 3p-a-sha ...