FTSE in-depth: Pinewood drama takes a new twist
Some people might say that activist fund Crystal Amber deserves an Oscar for building up a strategic stake in Pinewood Shepperton, whose film studios in Buckinghamshire were used for the production of Slumdog Millionaire, Harry Potter and various James Bond and Carry On film classics.
Geoff Foster: Ratings agency Fitch gave banks a lift.
But the shrewd investor surely topped up their shareholding to 12.34%, or 5.4m shares, believing the real action could be about to start.
Pinewood, 4p lower at 123p, has a meagre market capitalisation of £57.5m, net debt of around £44m and net assets per share of 154p. It has been a serious underperformer for too long and other shareholders are known to be getting pretty restless.
Chairman Michael Grade and the board recently received a kick in the teeth when South Bucks District Council rejected 'Project Pinewood', its ambitious plan to expand Pinewood Studios, on the grounds that it comprised development in green belt.
Rumours now suggest that the move by Crystal Amber (unchanged at 112p) could be a precursor to Peel Holdings, the property giant owned by billionaire John Whittaker, using its 26% shareholding at last as a launch pad to bid for Pinewood at a level well in excess of the current share price.
Whittaker owns Mersey Docks, the Manchester Ship Canal and the John Lennon Liverpool Airport and has always had his eye on Pinewood's vast property assets.
With the share price on its knees and property prices gradually moving north, it could be a perfect time for him to pounce, leaving Crystal Amber with yet another tasty turn on its investment.
Convinced that the Dubai crisis is well contained in the region, buyers flocked back to the London market. They chased the Footsie 121.49 points higher to 5,312.17 and the FTSE 250 up 216.67 points to 9,135.11.
Wall Street rejoiced with an early gain of 133 points. Dealers shrugged off weaker-than-expected US manufacturing data and instead focussed more upon upbeat news about construction spending and pending home sales. October pending home sales rose 3.7% on the month and 31.8% from a year earlier.
Mining stocks sewed a rich seam, boosted by news that Chinese manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in five years last month. As metal prices moved north, Fresnillo added 63p at 906 and Xstrata 67p to 1,136p.
Ratings agency Fitch gave banks a lift, saying that it does not expect any UK banking group's exposure to Middle East companies to be, in itself, of sufficient size to affect its ratings. Standard Chartered rose 77p to 1,561p.
As shareholders decide on whether or not to take up the 43% government-owned bank's record £13.5bn rights issue at 37p a share, Lloyds Banking Group cheapened 1.01p to 54.14p. Broker Keefe Bruyette & Woods cut its target price to 65p from 105p.
Informa jumped 28.9p to 306.4p after terminating talks to acquire Springer Science and Business Media.
ITE, the UK-based organiser of events ranging from Russia's largest trade fair, Mosbuild, to clothing events in Britain, put on 8p to 132.75p. It reported a strong set of results in tough markets. Pre-tax profits rose 23% to £45.8m on revenues 6% higher at £116.7m.
Housebuilders were in demand, reflecting brighter prospects for the housing market. Persimmon leapt 45.8p to 459.4p after Arbuthnot upgraded to buy from neutral. Barratt Developments climbed 8.1p to 126.3p.
Student accommodation group Unite jumped 19p to 289p after revealing that its fund is in the final stages of raising up to £150m to help finance acquisitions in the growing market for student homes. Numis upgraded to buy from add.
Domino's Pizza edged up to 292p after pledging to give £17.5m to shareholders only days after scrapping a similar offer to hand out £19m.
The pizza chain now aims to buy 6m shares from investors for 292p - 25p lower than its previous offer. Domino's warns that the new deal will only be completed if the shares remain between 275p and 304p in the five days before the offer closes on December 11.
Despite successfully raising £9m to help accelerate the commercialisation of its proprietary low-cost, ultra low-power body-worn digital plaster, AIM-listed Toumaz Holdings eased 0.75p to 7.75p.
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