Market report: Monday close

TOM Singh, founder and biggest shareholder in

Singh is talking to private equity houses to see if he can obtain the necessary financing. Last month it seemed he was going to sell his 28% stake when he appointed Deutsche Bank as his financial adviser.

Word is that Singh recently received an offer worth 320p a share, but was holding out for nearer 340p - which would value the business at £680m. The group's last trading statement showed like-for-like sales were down 3.5% in the three months to 12 July.

Brokers say today's announcement was badly worded and confusing. It left the shares 4 1/2p lower at 310 1/2p, against a float price of 165p five years ago.

Shares generally rallied from a slow start, helped by strong numbers from HSBC, up 13p at 777 1/2p, showing little impact of the Sars virus on profits. That spilled over into Standard Chartered, up 8 1/2p at 794 1/2p. Royal Bank of Scotland, reporting tomorrow, jumped 11p to 1742p. The FTSE 100 index saw its lead pared back to end up 1.7 points at 4100.1 following opening falls in New York this afternoon.

Pick of the pops was EMI, up 5p at 147 1/2p following reports over the weekend that the music publisher has been holding bid talks. The group is said to have been talking to private equity group Blackstone with a view to taking the business private as part of a £2.5bn deal. Speculators say Blackstone may be prepared to offer between 190p and 200p a share, valuing the business at £1.5bn, excluding debt of a further £1bn.

BT firmed 1/4p to 194 1/2p after denying plans for a £5bn buyback of its mobile phones arm mmO2, which used to trade under the name Cellnet. BT disposed of the business two years ago in order to reduce debt. The speculation has been sparked by news of its return to the market announced last week.

Keep an eye on engineer Cookson, up 1 1/2p at 29p. The shares are trading above last year's rights issue price of 25p with a further 12 million changing hands. Word is it is close to selling off its loss-making Speedline business.

Centrica fell 1p to 180 1/2p as Deutsche Bank tipped it as a buy with a target of 200p. US securities house Goldman Sachs has repeated its outperform rating. Shire Pharmaceuticals dropped 20 1/4p to 449 1/2p after being downgraded by broker Credit Suisse First Boston from outperform to neutral. ING Barings has reduced from buy to hold.

Troubled split capital investment trust operator Aberdeen Asset Management dipped 2p to 53 1/2p after it emerged that talks with property giant British Land over the sale of property portfolio Aberdeen Property Investors had collapsed. Brokers had put a value on the whole business of between £70m and £90m, but it transpired British Land was prepared to buy only part of the business.

Ryanair fell 13p to 418p after the cutprice airline revealed that the level of empty seats in its planes has doubled over the past year. In July 2002, only 7% of its seats were unoccupied, but last month the figure had risen to 15%. However, the airline is bigger now, carrying just over two million passengers in July, up from 1.46m last year. Market newcomer Faroe Petroleum fell 13 1/2p to 97 1/2p after hitting a dry well.

Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.