Hopes of an £8bn takeover of Cable & Wireless Communications residential cable assets saw the companys shares power ahead in early trading today.
CWC jumped 28.5p to 725p on reports that NTL, the British cable group listed on New Yorks Nasdaq exchange, would table a bid with the backing of France Telecom.
Cable & Wireless, the telecoms group with a controlling stake in CWC, jumped 12.5p to 812p on the rumours as investors welcomed some good news.
C&W shares fell yesterday on reports that bidders for its One2One joint venture were dropping like flies.
The news helped boost the FTSE-100 Index 31.5 points to 6504.6 in the opening minutes, shrugging off a lacklustre performance in New York.
Allied Domecq gained 7.5p to 583p after falling late yesterday following the governments decision to refer Whitbreads bid for its pubs to the Competition Commission.
Whitbread, which fell heavily in the previous session, remained at 929p.
Pharmaceuticals group Medeva saw shares rocket 5.5p to 141p on market talk that it had held merger talks with rival Shire Pharmaceuticals – up 3p to 586.5p.
The gains came despite reports that the talks had come to nothing. Dealers considered Medeva now in play for other approaches.
PA News 15/07/99
