Buyers form queue for Cardpoint shares

By Geoff Foster for MailOnline
Updated: 02:22 EDT, 27 April 2006

RUMOURS of a 150p-a- share bid approach lifted cash machine operator Cardpoint 6p to 102½p. In recent days turnover has been well above average, prompting speculation that a predator could be stakebuilding.

London-based hedge fund Cycladic is believed to have bought large amounts of stock amid growing gossip that US financial services giant GE Capital is sniffing around.

Cardpoint bought rival Moneybox for £90.5m last summer and so far it has proved to be a disaster. The company placed stock at 127p to help fund the deal and by November the shares had slumped to 70p following a shock profits warning.

Cardpoint said profits for the coming year would be lower than expected because 1,000 Moneybox cash machines in poor performing sites would have to be scrapped. The sale by chief executive Mark Mills of 750,000 shares at 138p only weeks before the statement also had institutional investors up in arms.

The group charges customers up to £1.75 for making withdrawals at its cash machines in petrol stations, convenience stores, pubs and clubs. Interim results next month should please and with cash apparently on its balance sheet, it would be a good time for a predator to pounce.

Cardpoint's shareholders include the ubiquitous Goldman Sachs with 12.8% and SVG Investment Managers, 3.4%. They would probably want more than 150p a share for their holding.

On a day when the FTSE 250 breached 10,000 for the first time before closing 30.7 points higher at 9997.6, its top performer was international oil and gas exploration company Soco International. It gushed 149½p to 1610p on news of further drilling success at its TGT-3X well in Vietnam.

Charles Dunstone's Carphone Warehouse buzzed 16¼p higher to 338¾p. The mobile phone retailer has rallied strongly after falling to 310p earlier this month following its decision to slash the price of broadband access and phone calls to £21 a month, including £11 line rental.

A Citigroup upgrade to buy from hold and increased target price of 365p helped Tomkins rise 14¼p to 342¼p.

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson erected a speculative gain of 17½p to 532½p on a revival of the ancient tale that Gerald Ronson has found a buyer for his 23% stake in the company.

The Footsie failed to hold best levels but closed 17.7 points higher at 6,104.3. Better-than-expected results from fund manager Amvescap (50p up at 624p) and continuing speculation that Russia's Gazprom is closing in on Centrica (5p up at 307¼p) kept bulls happy.

As did Wall Street's early 96-point leap on strong data showing the world's biggest economy to be in the best of health. US durable goods orders surged 6.1% in March, the biggest rise in 10 months.

British Energy was friendless at 682p, down 33p, reflecting the sharp slide in the cost to industry of emitting carbon dioxide. Drax fell 13p to 793p for the same reason.

Chaired by veteran entrepreneur Stanley Wootliff, cut-price underwear distributor Caldwell Investments jumped 6p to 13½p on talk of an imminent deal.

Director share buying lifted County Contact Centres 4¼p to 13¼p. Finance director Stuart Gordon bought 141,198 shares in the call centre group at 9p.

Voller Energy, the manufacturer of portable fuel cell systems, sprinted 13p higher to 66p following a positive technical update. There has been significant progress with its hydrogen reforming technology to extract hydrogen from widely available fuels.

Placed on Aim at 174p by KBC Peel Hunt, Oxford Catalysts shot to 215½p and closed at 198p for a tasty 24p premium. The spin-out company from Oxford University is focused on developing speciality catalysts with particular application in the generation of clean fuels. IP2IPO (1p off at 142p) owns 23.9% of OC.

Popular of late following a product launch, Phytopharm soared 11¼p more to 67p on the appointment of Teather & Greenwood as joint financial adviser and stockbroker.

• GREEN technology company TEG Environmental softened ½p to 76p after Canaccord placed 10.7m shares at 70p a share with five new and seven existing institutional shareholders. The £8m raised will help fund the acquisition of the Todmorden site near Manchester, which it intends to develop as a Build Own and Operate project using the company's Silo Cage composting system.