More smoke than fire around Marks & Spencer takeover talk

Is there a false market in Marks & Spencer shares? The question was on the lips of some City traders today.

On the back of weeks of speculation that a potential bidder is circling the High Street giant, the shares have jumped more than 10% since the beginning of August.

On Friday Bloomberg reported that private equity outfit CVC Capital Partners had explored a bid, sending the shares up again.

Today they eased back, losing 7.4p to 364.3p, as takeover talk faded — a reassurance to those shorting the stock.

Shore Capital scribe Clive Black questioned whether there is an “orderly market in M&S shares”.

M&S has not made a formal statement about the bid — if it did, how far would the shares fall, he mused.

Black, who described M&S as a “highly prized and leading brand in UK retailing”, said: “Whilst noting the mark up, which provides lesser immediate upside, we retain our positive stance for now.”

The parent of DIY chain B&Q has been hit with a rating cut by Bank of America. It reduced Kingfisher to underperform from buy on the back of the weak outlook for its French and UK business. Kingfisher dipped 9.8p to 275.8p.

Over in the sportswear sector, management at struggling JJB have got a sooner-than-expected deadline of September 5 to submit the proposals for a restructuring to ensure its future.

The retailer, which has suffered at the hands of rivals Sports Direct and JD Sports, admitted last week that it needs more funds for its planned makeover.

Its shares retreated 0.06p to 2.8p.

With a short week ahead, the FTSE 100 fell 4.14 points to 5772.46 as uncertainty remained in Europe and GDP downgrades in Japan and Spain added to the unease.