Police radio maker rises 40pc on China deal hopes
WALKIE-Talkie maker Sepura shot up nearly 40pc after the Government gave the green-light to its takeover by Chinese statebacked tech firm Hytera.
The firm, whose clients include the Met Police, added £148m to its value just one day after shares hit an all-time low. It rose after reporting that Business Secretary Greg Clark had approved Hytera’s bid for Sepura following an investigation on national security grounds that was launched in March.
Hytera is 52pc owned by its chairman Chen Qingzhou, a self-made billionaire, but is also held by a Chinese sovereign wealth fund.
Sepura shares shed 26pc earlier this week to hit a record low of 10.3p when a similar investigation was launched in Germany, one of its key markets.
Shares rose 38pc, or 3.88p, to 14.1p, but the 120-year-old Cambridge-based firm remains down 25.4pc year-to-date.
The FTSE 100 touched on a near one-month high, rising 0.6pc, or 41.35 points, to 7342.21. It was lifted
by miners, who pulled back losses seen in the previous day’s session as the price of copper stabilised. The sector’s top performers were BHP Billiton , which advanced 2.2pc, or 25p, to 1150p, and Fresnillo, which edged up 1.8pc, or 25p, to 1426p.
Rolls-Royce topped the index after entering into a joint venture to build engines for Turkish fighter planes. The firm will control 49pc of the venture alongside defence company Kale Industries, targeting both commercial and military engine opportunities.
It will initially focus on the £19bn TF-X National Fighter Jet, an allweather twin-engine fighter being developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries. It was backed by Theresa May in a £100m deal this January.
Rolls-Royce shares rose 4.6pc, or 39.5p, to 890p.
The Prime Minister’s vow to cap energy prices if elected placed energy firms among the FTSE’s biggest fallers. May pledged a ceiling on prices for standard variable tariffs – the UK’s most popular plan – which would cut costs for around 14m families.
Although losses shrank throughout the day, British Gas owner
Centrica closed down 1.2pc, or 2.4p, to 200p, with a cap set to cost the firm up to £200m. Electricity and gas distributor SSE also fell 1.2pc, or 18p, to 1431p.
Paysafe was among the FTSE 250’s biggest winners after reporting that performance for the first quarter was in line with full-year expectations.
Investors sold out of the global payments firm towards the end of last year after a short- seller accused it of enabling illegal gambling in China. But with these claims proving unfounded, the firm has been able to recover.
It said it still expects to meet targets of double- digit growth over the full year. Shares rose 2.3pc, or 10.6p, to 473p.
Henderson was lifted by an upgrade from UBS, which said that a £259m mega-merger with US-rival Janus could hugely benefit the firm.
Shares hit a six-month high after the broker raised the asset manager to ‘ buy’ from ‘ neutral’ and raised its price target to 275p from 240p. UBS said merging to become Janus Henderson will give Henderson enhanced scale, distribution and diversification.
Henderson shares rose 2.3pc, or 5.3p, to 234p. Technology and media investor
Concha advanced by more than 60pc yesterday despite not knowing why.
The firm’s board claimed that it was none the wiser to the movement in an afternoon statement, but shares still closed up 80pc, or 0.2p, to 0.4p.