Beyond the Footsie: Monday close
INVESTORS piled into
The stock surged to 237 1/2p, a jump of 190 1/2p, on weekend newspaper reports that chip company Wolfson Microelectronics is planning a £400m stock-market float.
Enterprise holds 9.7% of Wolfson, a company that makes chips forconsumer electronics goods including DVDs, palmtop computers and Microsoft Xbox games consoles. Enterprise put a £2.2m book value on that stake in its latest accounts; a £400m float would value it at £39m.
Logistics group Yeoman Group was another winner, collecting 16p to 40 1/2p on news that it has cut a deal to supply traffic and travel information to Vodafone's live! service. The FTSE Small Cap index closed 5.5 points higher at 2,291.1, well above an intraday low of 2,286.5.
TripleArc extended Friday's gains to climb 3 3/4p to 21p. The country's largest provider of internet-based print management services last week revealed narrower first-half losses and predicted a thinner loss in its second half.
Biotech Genetix rose 5 1/2p to 41 1/2p on news that it has launched a new instrument for mammalian cell colony picking.
The broader market finished in the black, in line with a stronger London and New York market. The FTSE SmallCap index rose 5.5 to 2291.1.
Losers included Danka Business Systems, down 7p to 3 1/2p. Losses widened in the first quarter and sales shifted towards lower margin business - a trend management warned would become the industry norm.
Sherwood dropped 1 1/2p to 1 1/2p. The company is to close its loss-making textile division after failing to find a buyer. Its other operating unit, Textile Finishing, is to be sold for £450,000.
