Smaller Companies Report: Monday Close
UK small caps closed lower with Plusnet weaker following Carphone Warehouse's presentation of its broadband strategy, while Ubet2win rallied on news it had launched its on-line sportsbook website, dealers said.
By the close the UK small caps was down 8½p points at 3,645.2, while the FTSE 100 index ended 40.9 points higher at 6,067.0.
Among shares on the move today, Plusnet finished 85½p pence lower at 355, after investors were spooked following weekend press reports that Carphone Warehouse were cited in a clutch of reports this weekend that claimed the company planed to offer its land line customers free high speed internet access, describing the stories as 'pure speculation'.
Another faller was Empire Online, off 20½p at 132, after investors switched into Playtech following an analysts' meeting which pushed its peer 8½p pence higher to 315¾p at the close.
In other news, Goshawk Insurance Holdings was another significant faller, closing 0.63 lower at 5¼p, after the company warned it will miss the regulatory deadline for posting its audited 2005 results but promised they would be published no later than May 19. The delay is likely to mean the shares will be suspended on the London Stock Exchange from May 2 but will resume when the results are published.
Elsewhere, Billing Services Group extended falls to close 8½p pence weaker at 81, after it said it is postponing its move to the Official List to give it time to provide three years of audited financial results for a German company acquired in 2005.
On the upside however, Ubet2win ended ¾p higher at 2.875p after it launched an on-line sportsbook website and said it work on a casino website was continuing.
In other news, Central China Goldfields surged after saying it had received approval from the Hubei provincial government to establish a Sino-foreign exploration joint venture company called Hubei Xiang Shui Tan Gold Inc. The shares closed, 1¼p higher at 9.625p.
Pharma group Lawrence rose 31p to 288¼p after Fidelity upped its holding to 7.95 pct of the company's issued share capital.
In other news, Planet Group, the multi currency payment processor, rose on news its innovative personalized pricing service is now available through Standard Chartered Bank at more than 200 merchant locations throughout Hong Kong. The shares ended up 22½p pence at 160p.
Investors were keen on Phytopharm, closing 4p higher at 43p on news that the joint development programme for its weight loss product with Unilever will now progress to clinical safety trials, following the successful completion of the first stage of the project.
The British company, which develops treatments derived from plant extracts, has granted the Anglo-Dutch group an exclusive licence to develop, manufacture and market a product derived from Hoodia gordonii, a very rare succulent plant which grows in the Kalahari desert.
Meanwhile, healthcare recruitment group Healthcare Locums rose a penny to 60 after reporting it has clinched a locum placement contract with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire NHS Trust.
Buyers liked the look of structural steel group Severfield-Rowen, surging 118p at 1,250p, after the company reported a rise in pretax profits for the full year to £19.7m from 12.2 mln a year earlier.
Sales rose 15.9% to £236.7 and the company said there is 'outstanding potential' for future profit growth, underpinned by a record order book.
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