Apple adds more than £145bn to its value after unveiling largest share buyback in corporate history
Most parents think their children will be worse off than they are: Here's how to cut inheritance tax if you help them
'Mortgages at 2% aren't returning any time soon': As optimism over interest rate cuts this year fades, is a two-year fix still a good bet?
No Time To Buy: We reveal which film characters could ACTUALLY afford their car - and Bond's got some saving to do
Should you pay as much as possible into your pension? SIMON LAMBERT on the risk to early retirement dreams if the goalposts get moved
Britons cash in on gold price boom by selling it to the Royal Mint: How do you buy AND sell bars and coins... and what's the best way?
Hargreaves Lansdown will refund £100 in share dealing fees to customers - is it a deal worth taking?
The best buy-to-let mortgages for landlords: Should they fix or risk a tracker?
MARKET REPORT: Growth across Italy and Spain help Trainline post a big leap in annual sales and profits
Beware Labour tax secrets: What Rachel Reeves is not telling us, rather than public pronouncements, should alarm voters, says ALEX BRUMMER
Glencore plotting a takeover offer for Anglo American that would spark a bidding war with rival BHP
Shares in owner of make-up company Charlotte Tilbury lose their early shine on stock market debut
Competition watchdog sounds alarm over Pennon's takeover of Sutton and East Surrey Water
HSBC's chairman jeered by furious former staff who say bank is unfairly clawing back a chunk of their pensions
Spruce up your portfolio: Three Great British brands that could benefit from DIY boom
INVESTING EXPLAINED: What you need to know about primary listings - the stock market where a company's shares first went public
SHARE OF THE WEEK: BP shareholders looking for answers about planned transition away from fossil fuels with first quarter results
What are passkeys? Experts say they will replace 'unfit for purpose' passwords to keep your money and data safe online
Do I have to pay capital gains tax if I sell my bitcoin but don't take the cash out of my crypto account?
Shawbrook Bank didn't transfer my cash Isa and then paid just 0.1% interest for days - has it taken advantage of me?
We're financial experts - this is how you can use your Isa and pension to grow your wealth in the new tax year
My mortgage deal ends next year: Can I fix even if there is less than £20,000 left to pay off? DAVID HOLLINGWORTH REPLIES
The Bank of England must go it alone and cut interest rates, says ALEX BRUMMER: It's time to give business a huge confidence boost
'Change stamp duty so it's easier to move up and down housing ladder': Coventry Building Society joins calls for property tax reform

Market report: Tuesday close

By Mickey Clark for MailOnline
Updated: 11:57 EDT, 20 June 2006

View
comments

THE champagne corks were popping at the Bishopsgate offices of reinsurance broker Benfield today as directors and employees enjoyed a windfall by cashing in their chips.

Broker Merrill Lynch has placed a parcel of 11.48m shares, worth an estimated £39m, at 340p with various institutions following an accelerated book-building exercise.

The number of shares owned by directors and their families totalled 1.95m. Benfield shares dipped on the news, touching 340p, before rising 4¾p at 349p.

The shares belonged to directors and employees of Benfield who chose to cash in their options. Benfield was the subject of a management buyout in 1988 by a group of investors that included the late Chelsea FC boss Matthew Harding, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 1996.

Benfield floated three years ago with almost three-quarters of its shares owned by 600 of its 1600 employees. The were offered at 250p, valuing the company at £575m, and hit a peak of 394¾p last month.

A half-hearted attempt at extending yesterday's gains by the rest of the market ended in failure as prices lost ground in another day of thin trading. A poor performance by Wall Street overnight was matched by the Far East today as the US Federal Reserve's recent warning on inflation continued to weigh heavily on sentiment.

The FTSE 100 jumped by 25.60 points to 5651.7.

Recent ITV bid talk boiled over, the shares sliding 2¾p to 102½p, while Royal & SunAlliance came in for profit-taking, losing ¾p to 125¾p after news yesterday of 1500 job losses. US broker Bear Stearns has repeated its underperform rating on the insurer.

Oil explorer Cairn Energy fell 18p at 1920p. Finance director Kevin Hart is leaving to become chief executive at struggling Aim-listed rival BowLeven.

His departure is expected to follow the EGM called to approve Cairn's flotation of its Indian assets on the stock market in Mumbai, formerly Bombay. Broker Merrill Lynch continues to rate Cairn a buy, while Bridgewell argues the changes confirm the management's commitment to the Indian listing.

The sale of Emap's French business to Mondadori for £380m was given a cautious thumbs-up by the City, although shares fell 8p to 858½p. Some brokers claimed the price being paid was at the bottom end of expectations.

But shareholders will be pleased because the publisher and broadcaster has already committed to returning £285m of the proceeds to them via an issue of B shares. Broker Panmure Gordon continues to rate Emap a buy.

Worries about the prospects forwonder drug Sativex left GW Pharma down 3½p at 74½p. Sativex contains marijuana and is used as a painkiller by sufferers of multiple sclerosis. But scientists are divided about the merits of the treatment, and health regulators in various countries are dragging their feet about recommending it.

Deadlines in its development are being pushed back. Broker Evolution has cut its rating from add to hold and slashed its target price from 170p to 90p.

Chief executive Alan Parker, trying to break up Whitbread before others do it for him, has revealed ambitious expansion plans in China. The sale of 235 Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants had also attracted a lot of interest.

Whitbread-owned Costa Coffee, in a joint venture with Chinese group Yuenda, will open its first outlet in Shanghai early next year and aims to have 300 branches in China 'in the next five years'.

Mitchells & Butlers is among those chasing the food pubs, put up for sale in April with a price tag of £400m. The future of Pizza Hut and TGI Friday's is still under review. Whitbread rose 20p to 1117p.

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.