Bank of England paves way for Britain to cut interest rates before the US: Nothing to stop us going first, says governor Bailey
Cameron left red-faced again in Greensill fiasco: Shamed tycoon sues Government over alleged leak
Bailey pulls his punches on rates yet again, but the Bank needs to deliver on lowering borrowing costs soon: ALEX BRUMMER
Our mortgage valuation says the house we're buying is worth £40,000 less: What should we do and can we appeal?
Bank of England holds interest rates at 5.25% for sixth time in a row - what it means for YOUR mortgages and savings
Scottish Power says our energy meters are now too old - is this a ruse to force us to get a smart meter?
No saving this popular family car: Ford confirms it will cull another of its best-selling petrol models next year to focus on EVs despite demand slump
Are you a Wetherspoon lover or hater? LEE BOYCE and SIMON LAMBERT have very different opinions on the pub giant that's flying high...
MARKET REPORT: North Sea giant Harbour Energy closes in on £9bn deal to take over German rival's oil and gas assets
Takeover target Wood Group hit by slump in revenues as bidders circle the oil industry engineer
Vodafone told to set up a security committee to 'oversee sensitive work' as £15bn Three deal is given the green light
ITV hopes for summer advertising boom as it continues to reel from last year's Hollywood strikes
Spanish bank BBVA goes directly to shareholders as it steps up bid for TSB owner Sabadell
Watches of Switzerland buys Italy's Roberto Coin for £104m in bid to expand in the lucrative luxury jewellery market
CRANE ON THE CASE: Air Mauritius lost my luggage and ruined my holiday but its compensation offer is terrible - what can I do?
I want to invest £600 a year for my new baby, what is the best way to do it - and how much could it grow to?
Artificial grass can lead to increased flooding risk, major insurer warns - so should you ever get a plastic lawn?
Get 5.6% interest with this quirky 365-day notice savings account that beats the top one-year fixed rates
Spring property bounce is a damp squib: Estate agents says rising mortgage rates keep buyers at bay
Zoning out: Why London renters are swapping Clapham and Camden for Abbey Wood and Forest Gate
JLR offers £150 a month towards the cost of insuring new Range Rover models to encourage sales after theft concerns
Ford boss says it may restrict petrol models in the UK to hit EV sales targets and avoid crippling fines
Used car sales hit a five-year high as fresh supply of second-hand motors enter the market and prices drop
Scottish Widows gave me access to a stranger's £40,000 pension - so could they get at my six-figure pot?

FTSE in-depth: Bid talk fires up Centrica shares

By Geoff Foster for MailOnline
Updated: 03:30 EDT, 3 February 2011

View
comments

British Gas parent Centrica is not everyone's cup of tea.

Geoff Foster: The fabulous Footsie cruised above 6,000 again

It certainly sparked outrage in November when it boasted that annual 2010 pre-tax profits would be higher than the expected £2.21bn only days after announcing a 7% hike in gas and electricity prices for 8m of its household customers.

The worst winter for 100 years has since helped it bank yet more massive profits, the sum of which will be announced to the market this month.

But in the meantime, punters suddenly took a liking to Centrica's shares as revived takeover rumours did the rounds. They chased them up to 334p amid vague talk of a bid approach at 450p a share before profit taking and the general market afternoon dip left the close 1.1p easier at 326.8p on turnover of almost 18m.

Russian giant Gazprom has regularly floated the idea it would like to buy Centrica. The world's largest gas producer said about five years ago that it would like to have at least 20pc of the British gas market by 2015. It still has plenty of time to do so. Centrica increased the number of residential energy customers by 270,000 during 2010.

Dealers last night suggested that Iberdrola could be interested in Centrica. It is one of the world's leading private electric utilities and the largest renewable energy operator.

The fabulous Footsie cruised above 6,000 again as a better than expected rebound in UK construction activity last month and Wall Street's overnight gain of 148 points encouraged fund managers to get stuck in first thing. It touched 6020.46 before boiling over amid concern about the unrest in Egypt but finished 42.25 points higher at 6,000.07.

After closing above 12,000 for the first time since June 2008 on Tuesday, the Street of Dreams traded a few points lower in early trading despite pleasing earnings reports from Time Warner and Hershey.

Imperial Tobacco was puffed up 106p to 1900p after investors heard that the tobacco giant has made a good start to the year and expects to increase the dividend payout to shareholders this year to a stonking 50pc.

As the cyclone approaching Queensland's North Coast sent the record copper price to within a whisker of the $10,000-a-tonne level, mining stocks jumped. Lonmin advanced 69p to 1768p, Eurasian Natural Resources 39p to 1076p and Fresnillo 45p to 1429p.

Amec shed 35p to 1216p with dealers seemingly unimpressed with the international engineering and project management group's acquisition of BCI Engineers and Scientists, a Florida-based consulting firm focused on the water and mining sectors.

Rolls-Royce reversed 12p to 626.5p despite Morgan Stanley lifting its target price to £8 and staying overweight in the stock.

Reader service: Free brochure guides

Completely free insider guides on the latest investing trends...

The broker believes the next chapter for RR will be based on the potential for improvement in Civil Aerospace profitability, the long-term competitive environment and the strategy of incoming chief executive John Rishton.

Upgraded by sector analysts after a recent bullish trading update, electrical engineer Spectris succumbed to profit-taking and fell 47p to 1354p. The company forecast that fullyear operating profits will rise by more than two-thirds helped by better than expected trading across all divisions in the last two months of 2010.

After the launch of TV API (application programming interface), giving set-top box and TV makers access to its online video index of 35m hours, Blinkx closed 0.5p easier at 96p. Canaccord Genity's target price is 110p.

Architect and interior design specialist Aukett Fitzroy Robinson edged up 0.12p to 3.5p on recovery hopes after it reported a reduced annual pre-tax loss of £789,000. Losses on its UK operations were down 93% at £209,000. Shares of @UK soared 2.38p or 25% to 11.75p on news that its 'Spendinsight' software has helped identify £500m of potential savings in the NHS.

Entrepreneur John Teeling's latest venture Botswana Diamonds made a drab start on AIM. Spun out of African Diamonds, the shares touched 7p but closed unchanged at 6.25p.

Botswana has three exploration licences in Botswana previously owned by African Diamonds, which was swallowed by Lukas Lundin in a £45.5m deal last year.

Contract news which accompanied interim results helped cloud computing specialist Maxima edge up 0.5p to 103p. It has won a contract with Amtico International to host and manage its core business IT applications, and will work with Ryanair to support the airline's web booking process.

Ascent Resources cheapened 0.62p to 8.25p after announcing it has received all the necessary consents to complete the deal with EnQuest where it will acquire an additional 48.75% interest in the Petisovci Project in Slovenia.

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.