Department store groups Debenhams and House of Fraser were in focus yesterday, as the market recovered some of its composure after last week's terror-driven uncertainty.
Debenhams added 3.75p to 175p after Deutsche Bank began coverage of the stock with a buy recommendation and a 210p target. Deutsche's analysts said the company had been a poor performer since its flotation in May but added, "We believe investors should revisit the stock ahead of a trading statement on September 18 when we expect management to confirm the business is on track to meet our forecasts."
Meanwhile House of Fraser rose 4.5p to 144.5p on hopes that Icelandic group Baugur will finally launch its much mooted £350m bid this week.
Overall, investors took heart from a downgrading of the UK terrorist threat and the ceasefire in Lebanon. With an opening surge on Wall Street after a slide in oil prices, the FTSE 100 ended the day 50.8 points better at 5870.9. Volumes, as might be expected on a Monday in the middle of August, were fairly pitiful.
The recovery however did not extend to building and maintenance group Interserve. The company's shares slumped 21% - down 75p to 281p - after it revealed a mis-statement of accounts in its industrial services business going back five years which could cost the company £25m.
Elsewhere, fund management group Schroders recovered 57p to 929p - a 6.5% rise - after Friday's 10% drop when investors decided the company's results were disappointing. Yesterday came the rethink. "The market's reaction is overdone," said analysts at Bridgewell. "The stock has defensive qualities in the current turbulent market environment and we believe the fall in the price should be taken as an opportunity to buy."
Engineering group Bodycote jumped 7.5p to 238p after both Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse made positive noises about the company. Merrill analysts upgraded their recommendation to buy with a 275p target, saying they believed the company would report a strong set of half-year results next week.
Credit Suisse rated the shares as outperform with a 290p target after a 26% drop in the shares since May.
Casino and betting shop operator Stanley Leisure added 19p to 619.5p after weekend reports that the US gaming group Harrah's might be interested in bidding for a combined Stanley/London Clubs.
Teather & Greenwood said it remained a buyer of Stanley, saying there was no shortage of potential predators for the company. "A key question is Genting's [the Malaysian conglomerate] reaction to any bid," said Teather, "since it currently owns 20% of Stanley and 29% of London Clubs, equating to 23% of the merged company."
The broker added: "This speculation will also help Rank Group." Rank edged up 1.25p to 208.75p.
Meanwhile, kitchen equipment maker Enodis slipped 5p to 164p after the US group Middleby said it no longer intended to make an offer for the company. Both US stalkers of Enodis are now out of the picture, and Enodis confirmed it was no longer in any talks.
Recruitment group Michael Page lost 15.75p to 310p despite a 48% rise in half-year pre-tax profit and an upbeat statement. Bridgewell said the results were at the lower end of the forecast range, with the main problem being the Australian business.
Analysts at Credit Suisse looked at companies that would suffer at a time of rising interest rates, following the Bank of England's increase earlier this month. They concluded that HBOS and Lloyds TSB would be vulnerable, since the banks have the highest proportion of unsecured consumer lending.
It also said the likes of Carpetright and Aga Foodservice could underperform. However, with banks generally in favour yesterday, HBOS was 12.5p better at 980p while Lloyds TSB rose 7.5p to 514.5p. Carpetright on the other hand lost 6p to 1200p and Aga slipped 3.75p to 353.75p.
Lower down the market, Torex Retail fell 5p to 56.5p as the software group reported a first half pre-tax loss of £3.7m. Beauty specialist The Core Business was steady at 5.5p as the Ministry of Sound exercised an option to take a 5% stake in the business at 4p a share.
Communications group Pipex added 0.58p to 9.03p on hefty volume with 30m shares traded. Dealers said the company was benefiting from hopes of success for its broadband offering.
Best of the Best, a lottery company based at airports that offers cars as prizes, made a strong start on Aim, moving up from its placing price of 63p to 67.5p. Airports operator BAA has a 13.8% stake in the business.
Finally, shares in Adwalker added 0.375p to 2.875p. The company has staff who walk around shopping centres and the like, wearing a body pack consisting of an LCD advertising screen, computer, touch screen and printer. Yesterday it announced a download facility for the packs which enables consumers to buy music and films immediately from the Adwalker operators, and transfer them to their MP3 players and iPods.
Erinaceous spikes
Troubled property group Erinaceous added 4p to 279p yesterday on talk of a management buyout. But investors should not get too excited. There is no doubt the company is fed up with the recent slump in its share price, not least because it makes it more difficult to do deals using its paper.
The fall has been partly fuelled by the fallout from a suspected £10m fraud at one of its businesses, Dunlop Haywards, and partly by what the company believes to be a bear raid on its shares with the spreading of unfounded rumours about its financial state.
But it is a step too far to expect it to go private soon, although this is not ruled out in the future. "Buyout talk at the moment is just nonsense," said one trader, "but that doesn't mean they'll never look at a private equity deal."