Futura soars on takeover talk
PERKY punters piled into Futura Medical on whispers of a bid approach from a major condom manufacturer.
Shares of the Aim-listed healthcare firm, which is sitting on two potentially explosive products in the sexual enhancement field, rose 2.5p to 101p on hot gossip that Reckitt Benckiser and Australia’s Ansell are both willing to pay up to £2 a share to gain full control of the Surrey-based company.
They would love to get their hands on Futura’s most exciting new prospect, CSD500, which has been described as Viagra in a condom.
It uses glyceryl trinitrate – also known as nitroglycerin. As well as making dynamite for many years, the chemical has been used to treat heart problems because it dilates blood vessels.
CSD500 will be sold under the Durex condom brand, owned by Reckitt Benckiser. So it makes sense for the household goods group to take full control and snap it up with some loose change of around £148m before its launch in August.
The product can now be marketed in 29 European countries.
Futura also has in its portfolio PET500, an enhanced sexual control spray. Along with Australia’s Ansell, owner of the Mates condom brand, it is gearing up for its commercialisation in the US in July. Ansell could therefore also have a big say in Futura’s future.
It’s close to Easter eggs-travaganza time and struggling high street chocolatier Thorntons suddenly found itself popular with sweet-toothed buyers.
They chased the shares 2p higher to 31.5p amid speculation that a private equity player is running the slide rule over the company.
Interim pre-tax profits melted 63pc to £3.1m and the dividend was waived as hardup shoppers ‘traded down’ to cheaper chocolates or acquired boxes on special offer.
Valued at a paltry £22m, Thorntons offers an attractive turn-around proposition for a private equity concern which would probably close problem stores and refocus on marketing and its brand.
Fund managers were reluctant to commit fresh funds ahead of the long Bank Holiday Easter weekend and some took money off the table after Monday’s good gains.
The Footsie drifted 36.55 points lower to 5,838.34 and Wall Street fell 64.94 points to 13,199.55.
There were some bright spots with luxury brands retailer Burberry 32p better at 1560p. It strutted its stuff after Investec sang its praises. The broker reckons it is a sharper, slicker and more balanced business, ready to weather macro-economic challenges and is positioned to continue to outperform its peers. Its 2014 pre-tax profits forecast is 6pc ahead of consensus forecasts at £537.1m.
A WH Ireland recommendation and 30p price target helped Dixons Retail improve 0.36p to 19.28p.
Renewed selling drove beleaguered credit card insurer CPP down 5.25p more to 57.75p. The shares have been friendless since the FSA began a probe into its business practices.
Bond International, which supplies staffing, HR and payroll software and outsourcing, jumped 12.5p, or 29pc, to 55.5p following impressive full year results. Pre-tax profits advanced to £1.95m, up from £0.1m, and revenues climbed 30pc to £36.8m. The dividend is lifted 50pc to 1.2p.
News of the opening of the first easyhotel in Johannesburg left Lonrho 0.25p dearer at 12.75p. The company has an exclusive franchise agreement with Sir Stelios Haji-ioannou’s easygroup. easyhotel will be the first trans-continental hotel brand in Africa specifically designed to be accessible to many at a highly competitive price. Hong Kong concern Wang Tak’s acquisition of a 4.95pc stake in Purecircle lifted shares of the natural sweetener supplier 19p to 131.5p. Purecircle specialises in Stevia, a herb which can act as a non-calorific sweetener.
Insurance minnow Cobra Holdings fell 4.5p to 19.5p despite revealing it is in takeover talks with two firms, Towergate Partnership Ltd and Alto intermediary Group. They apparently have made pre- offer enquiries with due diligence but there can be no certainty that any offer will be made for the company.
Disappointing trading news left Huntsworth 2p cheaper at 49.25p. The public relations and healthcare communications specialist was affected by the cancellation of contracts in the final three months of the year.
Cluff Gold glistered at 86p, up 2.75p. Septuagenarian Algy Cluff is to step down as chairman to be replaced by John Mcgloin. Cluff has plans for a new North Sea oil exploration company, an area where he made his first fortune in the 1970s with Cluff Oil.