Takeover gives laundry firm £210m share boost

Linen provider Berendsen jumped to a seven-month high yesterday after a French rival bought it for £2.2bn.

Berendsen, which provides linen and tablecloths to hotels and restaurants, saw £210.6m added to its value after finally accepting an offer from elis.

it was elis’s third attempt to buy Berendsen, and comes despite the latter previously saying there was no basis for any further discussion of a deal.

The agreed bid values Berendsen’s shares at 1250p each, ahead of previous offers of 1173p and 1100p, and an attractive 45pc premium to their value when it was first approached.

Shares yesterday rose 11pc, or 122p, to 1229p, sending Berendsen to the top of the FTSe 250 by a comfortable margin.

Beleaguered oil and gas producer Petrofac was also among the index’s winners, enjoying a rare day in the black after secur- ing a key partnership in Oman. The firm rose 4.1pc, or 14.4p, to 363.4p after signing a ten-year contract with Petroleum Development Oman to work on projects in the country.

Petrofac is already working on two developments worth around £1.6bn as part of the deal, which was described by managing director Craig Muir as a ‘landmark agreement’.

Petrofac has been in decline since last month, when its chief executive and chief operating officer were questioned under caution by the Serious Fraud Office as part of an investigation into Monaco-based Unaoil, which has been accused of bribery and corruption around the globe.

Another mid- cap winner was property investor Workspace

Group, which rents out affordable office space in London to new and growing firms.

The company rallied after confirming it is in discussions to buy Salisbury House in Finsbury Circus, in the City, for around £158m from private equity group Lone Star. if it goes through, the deal would bring the total number of properties owned by Workspace to 69. Yesterday, its shares rose 3.8pc, or 33p, to 909.5p.

Despite a relatively quiet session for company results, the FTSe 100 fell slightly as Britain headed to the polls. it finished down 0.4pc, or 28.64 points, at 7449.98, hit by a strengthening of the pound as traders increasingly bet on a Tory majority government.

The index also shed around 12 points as a number of firms began to trade without entitlement to their latest dividend. These included Johnson Matthey, down 1.1pc, or 32p, to 2947p, and WPP, down 2.7pc, or 45p, to 1631p. But mobile phone network Voda

fone was the worst hit by the dividend changes, falling 4.8pc, or 11p, to 218p.

Broker Jefferies took an unexpectedly severe disliking to the mining sector in a note released yesterday, arguing that a recent recovery in commodity prices will soon come to an end.

‘The miners greatly benefited from Chinese stimulus- driven demand in 2016 following a near hard landing in the second half of 2015,’ it said. ‘While balance sheets are no longer a serious concern, the end to Chinese stimulus is.’ This led it to downgrade BHP

Billiton to ‘ hold’ from ‘ buy’ and cut Vedanta Resources to ‘underweight’ from ‘ hold’, as well as reducing its target price for a number of other miners.

Although BHP Billiton shrugged off the downgrade, rising 1.1pc, or 12.5p, to 1183p, Vedanta took the news harder, falling 2.2pc, or 13p, to 582p.