Bid rumours boost Singer

COULD this be the year that

Dealers believe the day is fast approaching and a bidder will pounce before chief executive John Hodson can spend any of the £80m-plus cash raised from November's sale of 26.2% of its 30.8% shareholding in Swedish broker Carnegie.

S&F rose 7p to 215p amid gossip that Iceland's biggest bank Kaupthing-Bunadarbanki was trying to add to its 9.6% stake yesterday before launching a £490m cash bid, worth about 260p per share. KB is acquisitive and is not just a passive investor. It raised £340m in a bond issue last year and is believed to have the finance in place to launch an offer for S&F soon.

S&F sold down its Carnegie stake to refocus on its core banking and asset management business. Analysts said the sale makes it look even more attractive to a bidder.

Reflecting the overall market's strength, fund manager Schroders rose 16 1/2p to 671 1/2p, while hedge fund Man Group added 28p at 1477p.

Broker Teather & Greenwood improved 3p to 45 1/2p on hearing that New Star Hedge Fund has acquired 3.23%. Evolution advanced 7p to 109p following the appointment of leisure sector guru Nicholas Irens as a nonexecutive director.

Hopes that the fabulous Footsie would extend its winning streak to a 12th day were quashed as profit-takers made their presence felt. Further weakness in the dollar depressed the big overseas earners and after an early gain of 9.6 points, the index drifted to finish 8.1 points easier at 4505.2.

Wall Street dropped 41 points in early trade after a weaker than expected Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing index for December and a shock fourth-quarter profit warning from PC maker Gateway.

Bullish December traffic figures helped British Airways shrug off terrorist fears and fly 11p higher to 242p. Passenger capacity rose 2.3% in December year-on-year and passenger revenues increased by 4.8%.

More than 64 million Tesco shares changed hands and the close was 7 1/4p better at 260 3/4p. Merrill Lynch advised clients to fill their trolleys and its target price is 285p. Cazenove advised switching out of J Sainsbury, 1p off at 305p.

Heavily sold last week following WH Smith's (6p better at 264 1/2p) dire warning about disappointing Christmas sales of CDs and DVDs, HMV rallied-7 3/4p to 168 1/4p ahead of its trading statement on 15th January.

Revived talk of a possible merger with Warner Music of the US helped EMI sing out with a gain of 9 1/2p to 181p.

Aim-quoted Mean Fiddler, the UK's leading live music promoter, firmed 1p to 33p. Arts Minister Estelle Morris has launched an initiative to encourage the live music scene in England and Wales. This is music to the ears of MF's boss Vince Power, who promotes most of the UK's top music festivals, including Reading and Glastonbury.

Hoping to benefit from the new law allowing betting shops to have up to four standalone fixed- odds betting terminals (FOBTs), the UK's second-biggest bookie William Hill galloped 13p ahead to 440p. Analysts believe FOBTs will make the industry £100m this year.

Placed on Aim at 8 1/2p, shares of document management software provider INVU closed at 9 3/4p following a thin trade.

Gold and base metal explorer African Eagle improved 1p to 22p. Dealers await news as to whether Gold Fields will farm into its Miyabi gold property in Tanzania.

Petrel Resources, which will be drilling for oil in the western desert of Iraq in 2004, gushed 6p to 37 3/4p.

After shareholders of the media minnow agreed a reorganisation and name change to Oakgate at the AGM, PrimeEnt jumped 7p to 22p.

Recovery hopes lifted Profile Media 0.15p to 1 3/8p. After broker Bridgewell placed 6.2 million shares with institutional investors at 62 1/2p raising £3.8m, Trafficmaster edged forward 1 1/4p to 70p. The company plans to redeem early the $15m of bonds held by its US subsidiary, Teletrac.

AN upbeat profits forecast lifted Aim-quoted CA Coutts 16 1/2p in a thin market to a year's high of 125p. The retail communications group has had a strong second half of the year, including an excellent pre-Christmas trading period. It will therefore report materially higher pre-tax profits for the year ended 27 December. It has a growing list of blue-chip clients including MGM, Citroen and Allders.