LONDON (ShareCast) - Water group Severn Trent dropped sharply on Wednesday after the consortium of foreign investors that had bid for the company withdrew its offer last night. LongRiver, after having had its earlier proposals rejected by Severn Trent, said that it would not put forward a further offer "in the absence of meaningful engagement" with the utility's board.

Vodafone was also a heavy faller after going ex-dividend (along with Johnson Matthey), though the telecoms giant also confirmed that it has approached Kabel Deutschland about a possible takeover. According to Fitch Ratings, Vodafone could be downgraded by one notch if it acquires the German cable operator without taking other measures to reduce debt.

Heading the other way was BSkyB, which was making gains after rumours that part-owner News Corp's plan to split the company into two could lead to a fresh bid for the UK pay-TV and broadband group.

Supermarket giant Sainsbury edged higher after reporting its 34th straight quarter of like-for-like (LFL) sales growth, though the 0.7% increase in LFL sales in the first quarter was a sharp slowdown from the 3.6% growth seen in the preceding quarter.

Asset manager Aberdeen was a strong riser as investors looked to take advantage of its recent slump. Matt Basi, the head of UK Sales Trading at CMC Markets said that the stock has “found some support […] as bargain hunters saw some value in a forward price-to-earnings ratio of just 13”.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 410.90p +3.82%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 826.00p +3.31%
G4S (GFS) 242.10p +2.89%
Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 282.90p +2.50%
BT Group (BT.A) 312.40p +2.43%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 755.00p +2.37%
Serco Group (SRP) 604.50p +2.28%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 795.50p +2.25%
Capita (CPI) 958.00p +2.13%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,235.00p +2.05%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,772.00p -8.52%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 183.40p -4.48%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,163.00p -2.19%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,820.00p -2.15%
Barclays (BARC) 298.25p -2.07%
Evraz (EVR) 115.00p -1.96%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 60.43p -1.24%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,272.00p -1.17%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 440.60p -1.14%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,594.00p -1.11%

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