Smaller capitalisation shares
A FRESH wave of regulatory raids on German cement producers saw RMC fall more than 4 per cent on fears that the building materials group could again be drawn into a costly price-fixing inquiry.
RMC's loss-making German division has proved something of an albatross for its parent, having been put up for sale twice in the past two years, and, courtesy of a ?04.7 million writedown, being the cause of a severe dent in its bottom line at last week's full-year figures.
However, the shares lost 6 per cent at their worst yesterday after the Federal Cartel Office, the German competition watchdog, confirmed that it had raided the offices of several cement makers on Tuesday after a tip-off alleging continued price-fixing. Given that RMC's Readymix was one of the targets in the first such inquiry two years ago, and was last year fined €12 million by the regulator, nervous investors leapt to the conclusion that it was again under scrutiny. However, while the likes of its rival Heidelberger were raided, RMC confirmed late yesterday that it had not been drawn into the investigation, helping its shares off their session low. They closed 28p cheaper at 610½p in heavy volume, with the FTSE 250 down 57.7 points at 6,301.6.
Mitchells & Butler rose 6¼p to 251p after Merrill Lynch, joint broker, repeated its “buy”advice and 300p target, claiming the Harvester and All Bar One pub operator’s shares had been unfairly overlooked in favour of its leased pub peers. The same broker held sway at Aggreko, off 6½p at 155¾p, as Merrill cut its 2004 and 2005 earnings per share estimates by 3 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.
Television Corporation put on 4p to 102p after Tuesday’s after-hours disclosure that John de Mol, the Dutch TV producer behind Big Brother, has picked up a 3.14 per cent stake. Mr De Mol is a canny value investor, having made handsome profits on bid positions in EMI Group and Manchester United, but his imminent departure from Endemol has prompted talk that he might bid for the Robot Wars maker.
Oriel Resources, a nickel and copper miner focused on Kazakhstan, is set to make a strong AIM debut today after a 65p-a-share placing through CannaccordCapital that was six times oversubscribed. The demand forced the broker to increase the size of the offer from ?0 million to ?0 million, but the 91 institutions that took part have been heavily scaled back. Centaur Holdings, the publisher, rose 2½p to 102½p on its first day on AIM.
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