Brewers Lose Fizz As Carlsberg Rules Out S&N Bid ; MARKET REPORT

By Andrew Dewson

It looks like Carlsberg will not be bidding for Scottish & Newcastle, contrary to recent rumours. The Dan ish brewer confirmed it is not seeking any major ac quisitions, as it presented first- quarter numbers, and although S&N rallied 20.5p to 619p in early deals, tra ders were quick to lock in some profits.

By the close, S&N lost 3.5p at 623.5p. The word in the market is that although Carlsberg may no longer be in the running, that could encourage Diageo, dow 3.5p to 1,064.5p, or SAB Miller, off 2p to 1,214p.

Property stocks dragged down the blue-chip index as investors fretted over a possible 25 basis-point rise in UK interest rates today Sector heavyweights British Land closed 17p worse at 1,476p, while Land Securities, the UK’s largest land lord, shed 15p to 1,980p. The worst performer was Liberty International, the shopping centres owner, off 34p to 1,230p. The euphoria over conversion to Real Es tate Investment Trust sta tus looks well and truly over A profits warning from mid-cap pubs landlord JD Wetherspoon, 40p lower to 670p, was good news for its larger rival Enterprise Inns Wetherspoon told investors that trading is below its forecasts, and results for the full year will come in “marginally” below market expectations. Traders speculate that Enterprise has won market share from Wetherspoon, and its shares rose 27.5p to 690p.

Despite spectacular gains in some miners thanks to rumours that BHP Billiton, up 64p to 1,249p, is considering a bid for Rio Tinto , the London market remained subdued and investors were not tempted to bid the wider market higher. Rio closed 355p firmer at 3,660p, although some traders were sceptical about a bid that would value the company at more than $100m ([pound]50m). The FTSE 100 finished 0.8 points lower at 6,549.6.

Ladbrokes, Europe’s largest operator of betting shops, was sharply higher as talk of a bid from Apax Partners did the rounds. The stock has been in play for a bid since the start of the year, despite ongoing talks with 888 Holdings which were abandoned in April. The word is that Apax is on the verge of tabling a 440p-per- share offer for Ladbrokes, but traders said that with the shares climb-ing 18p to 431.5p yesterday a first offer at that level is unlikely to be a winner.

The recruitment sector has been buoyant, and the broker UBS sees more up-side. It upped its price target for SThree to 555p from 490p, noting the discount the shares trade on compared to better- known sector players such as Michael Page. Its shares closed 14.75p better at 511.75p.

The cider maker C& C Group fell victim to a bout of profit taking after another decent set of results largely priced in after a detailed pre-close trading statement. Its shares fel [euro]0.27 to [euro]12.23, although brokers Goldman Sachs and Davys reiterated their positive advice. C& C’ Magners cider brand is to be introduced in Barcelona and Munich, and investor will be keen to hear tha European drinkers are a easily seduced as thei British counterparts.

Down in the small caps providers of Individual Vol untary Arrangement found few friends, despite sharp declines on the back of last week’s warning from Accuma Group . Given tha it was Accuma’s second warning since March, per haps investors are banking on the “sell on the first, buy on the third” theory on profits warnings. Accuma shed 5.5p to 34.5p, a new all-time low, while rivals Debtmatters fell 12.5p to 160.5p.

Landore Resources was well bid for the second ses-sion on the trot, up 1.75p to 17.25p. Most of the support has come from retail in-vestors looking for nickel as-sets, and some analysts be-lieve that Landore’s nickel deposits in Ontario could be worth significantly more than Landore’s market value. Comparisons to Toledo Min-ing , another AIM-listed nick-el group, may not be valid as Toledo is in production, but the re-rating stocks can gen-erate when moving from an exploration to production phase are clear. Toledo shed 10p to 339p, and its shares are up more than 125 per cent since deliveries of nickel began in March.

Finally, Borat will doubtless be pleased by the stock market debut of Tau Capi-tal , after it raised $250m in a placing on AIM for the purposes of investing in companies in Kazakhastan. The broker Numis Securi-ties led the placing at $1 per share, which raised 25 per cent more capital than was targeted. Tau Capital is the brainchild of Lord Roth-schild and Richard Horlick, a former head of investments at fund management giant Schroders. Its shares closed at $1.04, giving new investors a 4 per cent premium.

Main movers

DSG International 176.3p (up 8.6p, 5.1 per cent) Morgan Stanley upgrades to “hold” from “sell”.

Anglo American 2,929p (up 109p, 3.9 per cent) Consolidation hopes in the mining sector.

Xstrata 2,800p (up 89p, 3.3 per cent) With Anglo American, Rio Tinto.

Hanson 1047.5p (up 17.5p, 1.7 per cent) Awaiting bid developments.

Merrill Lynch World Mining 585p (up 35p, 6.4 per cent) Benefits from mining merger speculation.

N Brown 317p (up 17p, 5.7 per cent) Full-year results beat forecasts.

FKI 126.75p (up 3.75p, 3.1 per cent) Bid speculation intensifies.

William Hill 643.5p (up 17p, 2.7 per cent) Buoyed by Ladbrokes bid talk.

Blueheath Holdings 27.5p (up 14.75p, 115.7 per cent) Reverse takeover of Booker Group.

Leni Gas & Oil 6.62p (up A 0.75p, 12.8 per cent) Agreement with Malta Oil gets regulatory green light

Alkane Energy 19.25p (up 1.75p, 10 per cent) Confident outlook statement.

Cozart 35.25p (up 0.75p 2.2 per cent) Signs [pound]500,000 deal with Emirates Airlines.

Reuters 612p (down 18p, 2.9 per cent) Profit-taking; brokers cautious over Thomson bid.

Sage Group 262.25p (down 6p, 2.2 per cent) Results fail to inspire.

Tate & Lyle 652.5p (down 12p, 1.8 per cent) European starch unit sale price disappoints.

Russia Mining 22.25p (down 5.5p, 19.8 per cent) Profit-taking after speculative rally.

Subsea Resources 5p (down 1p, 16.7 per cent) Needs new funding.

Eicom 14.5p (down 1.5p, 9.4 per cent) Places 5.7 million shares at 8.8p.

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