GKN’S gains helps Footsie stay in black

Market report Perry Gourley

Investors cheered reports that engineering firm GKN could split in two, sending its shares to the top of the FTSE 100 and helping the blue-chip index edge into positive territory.

The FTSE 100 ended the day relatively flat, rising just 1.22 points to 7,524.45. It was nudged higher by the likes of GKN, which topped the index after rising 15.6p to end the trading session at 319p. It comes in the wake of media reports suggesting that GKN was putting together a plan to split up its aerospace and automotive units, and that the break-up could materialise within months.

David Madden, a market analyst at CMC Marketsuk,said:“afewweeksagothefirmshocked the market by revealing it would incur costs of £40 million, for two charges.

“The talk of the split in the company has helped them recoup some of the lost ground.”

RBS shares dropped 2.8p to 279.5p after Britain’s financial watchdog published an interim report looking at the treatment of small businesses at the hands of the bank’s controversial Global Restructuring Group (GRG).

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) added that it was still investigating the lender.

However, while the FCA identified a number of failings at RBS, it said the bank had not engaged in the “systematic inappropriate treatment of customers”.

Shares in Spire Healthcare surged 39.7p to 301p after the company confirmed that it had rejected a takeover offer from South Africa’s Mediclinic which valued it at over £1 billion, saying that Mediclinic significantly undervalued Spire and its prospects. The private hospital operators saw its shares soar after it received and rejected an approach from South Africa’s Mediclinic. The car dealership group warned that profits will take a hit from falling demand for new cars amid weak consumer confidence.