Market round-up: Smart Metering drops as founders vow to stop takeover

Sparksflew in the £1.3 billion takeover of Smart Metering Systems today as it emerged the founders and a major shareholder opposed the private equity deal.

Steve Timoney, ex-CEO Alan Foy and PrimeStone Capital together control 17.8% of the AIM-listed company, which specialises in smart meter installation, battery energy storage systems and electric vehicle charge points.

They are “disappointed” by the 955p-a-share proposal and have pledged to vote against this month’s deal between US buy-out giant KKR and the SMS board.

The shares, which were trading at 680p before the takeover offer was announced, fell as far as 898p this morning before recovering to stand 33p lower at 925p.

The developments came during a session short on festive cheer as the FTSE 100 index failed to build on yesterday’s inflation-inspired 1% rise.

The top flight dropped 11.79 points to 7730.89 after profit-taking on Wall Street at the end of Wednesday’s session.

Two of 2023’s worst performing blue-chips suffered losses as the luxury goods business Burberry retreated 43.5p to 1448p and British American Tobacco fell 64.5p to 2271.5p.

Vodafone has also endured another tough year but the mobile phone giant rallied 1.2p to 68.7p at the top of the risers board.

Other stocks on the move included car insurer Admiral, which shed 34p to 2680p after Berenberg removed its “buy” rating. The FTSE 250 index fell 0.6% or 122.13 points to 19,506.96, led by cyber security firm Darktrace after shares dived 10% or 40p to 336.1p.