News

Leading shares are mixed this morning, with investors reluctant to commit themselves too heavily ahead of this week's interest rate decision.

The much rumoured move by Punch for Mitchells & Butlers is no longer just a rumour. Punch has put forward a merger plan to Mitchells that would see each firm's shareholders own 50% of the merged company. In addition, Mitchells & Butlers shareholders would receive a cash payment of £175m. M&B noted the proposal from Punch Taverns and added it has received continued expressions of interest in the company from third parties.

Persistent rumours of an imminent bid from JC Flowers provide a lift for Friends Provident. Similarly, ITV is firmer on rumours it is being stalked by private equity groups now that BSkyB has been ordered to reduce its large strategic stake.

No-frills airline Ryanair's underlying net profits fell 27% to €35m in the third quarter. It also warned that high oil prices, an economic slowdown in the UK and weak sterling could mean a 50% profit drop next year. In the last three months, traffic grew by 21% to 12.4m, but yields fell by 4%, as revenues rose by 16% to €569m. Rival Easyjet is down in sympathy.

Business software group Sage reports trading for the three months to December was consistent with management expectations. The performance of its UK business continued to be good. Mainland Europe experienced good growth across all its markets, although organic growth moderated from the very strong performance in 2006/7. Rest of World again experienced strong organic revenue growth.

Miners are again among the best performers. Anglo American leads the sector higher after announcing a strategic relationship with China Development Bank to establish a strategic relationship to identify and develop a pipeline of natural resources projects.

Vedanta, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta are all showing healthy gains, but the smaller Randgold is off the pace after a mixed results statement with annual profits down. Xstrata and Rio Tinto are also weaker, as bid frenzy dies down.

Northern Rock is lively as the deadline for bids for the troubled bank closes today.

Diamond miner Gem Diamonds is shining after sparkling results. It reported an 81% hike in total sales from its Letseng mine in Lesotho to $152m during the year ended 31 December 2007.

Irish construction company Siteserv climbs higher after acquiring UK contractor Deborah Services.

Oil firm Coastal Energy advances after finding gas deposits at its Dong Mun-3 drill site. In contrast, Indago Petroleum plummets on news of a high pressure salt water flow into its Al Jariya-1 well near the border of Abu Dhabi.

Boat electronics specialist Raymarine floats higher after announcing it has bought its Italian distributor Deck Marine for up to €25m.

Semiconductor firm Wolfson Microelectronics hiked fourth quarter revenue by 36% despite challenging market conditions during the first half of 2007 and expects revenues in the current quarter to rise between 10% and 20%.

Online gaming service provider Cyberview is marked sharply lower after it said the impact of not securing one-off licensing fees in 2007 will mean that results for the year ending December 2007 will be below expectations.