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Daily Mail, London, market report column [Daily Mail, London]
(Daily Mail (London, England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 14--NO less than six profit warnings in a year has left Carpetright's share price threadbare.
Britain's biggest floor covering retailer, with 643 stores, continues to be hit by the weak UK housing market and the reluctance of cash-strapped homeowners to buy big ticket items.
City analysts have all year been busy slashing full-year profit forecasts towards the pounds sterling 11m level, down from last year's pounds sterling 16.9m.
Carpet king and chief executive Lord Harris of Peckham, who over the years has had very few good words to say about the City, is said to be coming to the end of his tether.
A yarn doing the rounds among trade sources suggests Lord Harris, who owns 18.8pc of the equity, is ready again to roll out plans to take his Obaby' private at pounds sterling 469m, or pounds sterling 7 a share. As rumours circulated in the market, the shares climbed 23.75p to 578.75p. The 52-week high was 771.5p.
In 2007 Lord Harris failed in an attempt to take it private at 1250p a share. He wanted then to free the company's management from the confines of public ownership to expand more quickly. His intentions remain the same and dealers believe he has been sounding out major shareholders of late about the possibility of doing a deal.
Olayan, a Saudi investment group, with 14.9pc is said to be already on side, while Chicago-based Harris Associates, which owns 11pc, still needs to be persuaded. As does billionaire Bill Gates, who sits on 6pc of the stock via his personal investment company Cascade Investments.
Fund managers piled in for blue chips following the approval of austerity measures on Sunday by the Greek government. The Footsie marched ahead to close 53.31 points up at a six month high of 5,905.7, while the FTSE 250 advanced 107.99 points to 11,275.6. Wall Street traded 40 points higher on the news from Athens. It was blue skies all the way for travel group TUI, 5.7p better at 207.5p, on revived talk that German parent TUI AG will soon bid for the 44pc-plus shareholding it does not already own. Speculation has intensified following talk that TUI AG is at last on the verge of selling its 38.4pc stake in container shipping company, Hapag-Lloyd, to majority shareholder, the Albert Ballin consortium.
Partly owned by the UK taxpayer, Lloyds Banking Group firmed 0.805p to 35.3p on buying ahead of the annual results on Friday February 24.
Cable & Wireless Worldwide buzzed 8.79p or 44pc higher to 28.54p after mobile phone giant Vodafone (1.75p better at 174.4p) confirmed it is considering putting the corporate telecoms supplier out of its misery.
There was no stopping Kenmare Resources, up a further 5.4p to 58.5p, on renewed speculative buying. Excited punters continued to respond to gossip that the Irish titanium miner will soon be swallowed by mining giant Rio Tinto (73.5p up at 3845.5p) in a cash deal worth 110p a share.
Kurdistan focused oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum was also gripped by takeover speculation and touched 415p before closing 14.25p at an all-time peak of 397p. Exxon Mobil and Total have both entered the Kurdistan region and are said to be interested in GKP.
Cove Energy, which has put itself up for sale, rose 7p to 146p on whispers that at least two oil majors are interested with one ready to table a bid in the region of 180p a share.
Loss-making technology developer Pursuit Dynamics lost 2p to 89p. Bears roared what shareholder in their right mind would now want to subscribe to the rescue pounds sterling 9.4m rights issue at pounds sterling 1 a share announced in December, along with a pounds sterling 15.3m annual loss and the departure of chief executive Roel Pieper.
AIM-listed tech firm Toumaz touched 10.25p and closed a penny dearer at 9.88p after announcing the formation of two subsidiaries, each with a specific focus for the commercialisation of its technologies. It also has raised pounds sterling 11.2m via a placing at 8.75p to fund further development.
Industrial engineer Tanfield edged up 0.62p to 46.5p following a placing of 29.3m shares at 41p a pop. The pounds sterling 12m cash raised will help fund future working capital requirement and to Oprime' critical parts of its global supply chain.
Amino Technologies, the TV set-top-box company, was unchanged at 54p after announcing a return to profitability and a proposed maiden dividend of 2p.
Investment company Brainspark rose 1.5p to 21.75p after hearing that the winding up order issued by the courts on January 30, 2012 has now been dismissed. The company has settled with its creditors for pounds sterling 60,000, with net assets currently valued at around pounds sterling 16m. A share placing to raise cash is now on the cards for the short-term.
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(c)2012 the Daily Mail (London, )
Visit the Daily Mail (London, ) at www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
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