Trio trebles to set up takeover

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Tongues were wagging again yesterday as a few lumpy lines of stock changed hands. Dealers heard that 29.9% shareholder Nittan Capital is on the verge of launching an agreed £232m cash offer, valuing Trio at 28p-a-share.

The leading Asian money broker is already sitting on a nice profit on its investment after paying Regent Pacific just 10 3/4p a share for its shareholding. It has always wanted to swallow the rest of Trio and agreement is now said to have been reached with Trio's board, led by chairman David Hagan. A deal should be announced soon. Last month, Trio reported a rise in interim profits from £0.87m to £2.2m.

Elsewhere, forget white and blue, red was the predominant colour on dealers' screens as the City crawled back to work following the long Jubilee celebrations. Dealers marked shares sharply lower to reflect falls on Wall Street over the two days London was closed.

News of US tax evasion charges against former Tyco International chief Dennis Kozlowski, coming after Enron's dramatic fall-out, fuelled concerns that Wall Street may have more corporate skeletons in its cupboard.

The flagging Footsie slumped 113.7 points at the outset to trade below 5000 and its lowest level since October 3. It closed 96 points off at 4989.1. Wall Street opened points higher in response to Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's comments on Tuesday that US economic prospects were 'increasingly positive'.

Reuters, the information giant, was sold down to 443p before closing 18p off at 448 1/2p after its 54%-owned US unit, Tibco, issued a shock profits warning. The news also dragged business management software group Sage down 10 1/2p down to 165p.

Morgan Stanley put the boot into insurers with a wholesale downgrade of the sector, CGNU losing 18p to 621p after Morgan slashed its target price from 625p to 567p. Prudential fell 15p to 651 1/2p and Friends Provident 8p to 167p. But Cox Insurance improved 3 1/2p to 65 1/2p on recovery hopes.

Some punters were nursing burned fingers as advertising group Cordiant shed 5 1/2p to 94p after it denied it was in bid talks. Green Property confirmed bid talks are taking place and closed 7 1/2p up at 592 1/2p. The bidder is believed to be chief executive Stephen Vernon.

Paramax Partners' purchase of 5.5m shares, or 4.2%, left Oxus Mining 2p better at 14p. Techno minnow OMG plummeted 6 1/2p to 18p after warning market conditions remain uncertain.

A Beeson Gregory recommendation following interim figures lifted Landround, the travel promotions company, 4p to 154p. E-retailer Ebookers rose 12 1/2p to 281 1/2p following the appointment of former First Choice Holidays executive Nigel Addison as chief financial officer. Regus retrieved an early 3 1/2p fall to finish unchanged at 41p. Mark Dixon, chief executive of the office rental company, said the chances of its US unit filing for Chapter 11 were 'very unlikely'.

Jarvis Hotels hardened 1 1/2p to 121 1/2p after veteran property entrepreneur Jack Petchey checked in with a 4.6% stake via Trefick, his Isle of Man investment vehicle. Trefick also owns 6.1% of heavily-indebted hotels group Queens Moat Houses, 1/4p off at 14 1/2p, most of which was acquired in a tender offer in March. Petchey wanted to buy up to 25.6% at 14p-a-share, but could get his hands on only 5.82%.

In an effort to find a trading level, market-makers slashed finance company London Pacific 18 1/2p to 35p.