Gym Group soars 13pc on plan to add 70 branches

INVESTORS were in a spin after learning that Gym

Group was bulking up. The low- cost gym chain is expected to add up to 70 former Fitness First branches to its numbers.

Gym Group, founded in 2008 by former England squash player John Treharne, has around 80 branches across the UK.

It listed on the stock exchange last November. Rival chain Fitness First, which has around 1m members, is to be taken over by Wigan Athletic football club owner Dave Whelan, who is thought likely to discard some of its 370 clubs.

Gym Group is expected to take on some of these to beef up its own offering, which started out in 2008 with a gym in Hounslow. Shares soared 13pc, or 26.5p, to 229.5p.

Elsewhere in the fitness sector, sports nutrition firm Science in

Sport is to be the official sports nutrition partner to Liverpool Football Club for this season.

The business, which produces products for professional athletes and sports enthusiasts, will make bespoke products for the side to use on training, recovery and match days. Science in Sport will tailor its products, made in Lancashire, for each player across the first team, ladies’ teams and academy. Its range includes energy gels and protein products. Shares kicked up 6pc, or 4p, to 70.5p.

Associated British Foods, the company behind Primark and Twinings tea, climbed on a positive note from stockbroker RBC.

Analysts said that after a tough time in the retail sector there were now ‘pockets of opportunities’.

The broker raised its rating on AB Foods, pointing out that Primark was relatively well-positioned as the cheapest player in the priceconscious UK apparel sector and is taking market share. RBC said Primark had seen an improvement in customer perception of its products and should benefit from its limited exposure to the UK market at a time when the pound was weaker – only around 50pc of the retail chain’s sales are in the UK.

RBC added that sugar was seeing a big recovery too, which was good news for some of the group’s other businesses such as The Silver Spoon Company. Shares rallied 3.4pc, or 101p, to 3051p. The stock was the highest riser for the day on the FTSE 100, which finished down 0.25pc, or 17.3 points, at 6820.8.

Big banks made up many of the other top risers for the day, as the Fed’s Janet Yellen said the US could be ready for another rate rise, buoying investors’ confidence.

HSBC climbed 1.9pc, or 10.6p, to 557.5p while Barclays bounced 1.9pc, or 3.2p, to 169.15p.

Investors have lost their appetite for Restaurant Group after Friday’s downbeat update. The firm blamed pricing and menu decisions for poor like- for- like sales at Frankie & Benny’s, and said it would close around 33 outlets across the group. Stifel yesterday added 120p to its target price for the stock, to 470p, but that wasn’t enough to turn the tide and shares slipped 6.2pc, or 26p, to 396p.

As 95pc of shareholders waved through SoftBank’s acquisition £24bn of Cambridge-based ARM

Holdings yesterday, UK tech firms have come firmly into focus.

Investors are trying to predict who will be the next technology takeover target. The appeal of these innovative businesses has been heightened recently by the weaker pound, which makes the companies look cheaper to buyers from overseas.

Yesterday, intellectual property firm Imagination Technologies leapt up 5.3pc, or 11.5p, to 226p while IP Group advanced 2.2pc, or 4.2p, to 194p.

AIM-listed Minco plunged as it reported a loss of £392,000 in the first six months of the year.

The company, which is involved in mineral exploration in Canada, Ireland and the UK, had made a £60,000 profit in the same period a year ago. Some of the loss was due to currency movements, it said. Shares dropped 11.3pc, or 0.15p to 1.18p.