Mole leaks House of Fraser results

HOUSE of Fraser had its thunder stolen after its first-half results were leaked to a news wire on Thursday. It was forced to rush out a holding statement, revealing that losses have narrowed from £5m to £3.9m, sending the shares up 2 3/4p to 981/p.

The department store chain is likely to start a witch-hunt for the source of the leak - targeting its staff, its public relations firm Brunswick and adviser Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. The Financial Services Authority will also take a look at what happened.

Fraser recently allowed Allders rival Terry Green to have a peek at its books, though his bid plans were thwarted when banker Nomura pulled out.

Chief executive John Coleman will hope that the 'encouraging' results will persuade Green to stump up even more cash.

Some of Coleman's initiatives to revamp the chain appear to be bearing fruit. Firsthalf like-for-like sales were flat, but sales for the first seven weeks of the second half are up 5.4%. The interim dividend was held at 1.7p.