Beyond the Footsie: Wednesday close

AN agreed bid by transport group

Tibbett & Britten shares jumping 882p to 666 1/2p, after Exel disclosed a £328m recommended cash offer for its smaller rival.

The offer is at a premium of 36.3% to Tibbett's closing share price of 490p on Monday and represents an historic multiple of 23 times reported earnings per share (pre-exceptional and goodwill) of 29.1.

Charteris rose 3p to 23 1/2p. The IT company and BACS Ltd, which runs the inter-bank funds transfer system, have set up a new initiative to help major users switch to a new BACS system to operate automated payments, including payrolls and accounts.

Investment Management Holdings added 1/4p to 3p on news of director share buying.

Biotech group Alltracel rose 1 1/2p to 25p after announcing a two-year deal with Devro, the collagen manufacturer.

Elsewhere, Centurion Electronics added 10p to 88 1/2p. It has signed a deal with Peugeot, which will use Centurion's newly launched Plug & Play Blue portable in-car entertainment system in the UK.

Upbeat full-year results lifted Tops Estates 15p to 317 1/2p. The specialist investor in town and city centre shopping and leisure centres posted a 29% jump in its pretax profits to £8.68m and a 15% increase in net asset value per share to 464p from 403p at the March year-end.

Phytopharm rose 4 1/2p to 148 1/2p as traders warmed to the launch of Zanthofen, its plant-based product for the maintenance of canine joint mobility, in the UK.

On the downside, oil exploration company Aminex fell 2 3/4p to 8 1/4p after the company revealed its Ndovu Resources unit is suing Petrom SA for $3.5m it claims it is owed. Petrom is disputing the sum.

Business services company Parity also suffered, its shares falling 0 1/2p to 10 1/2p after warning at its AGM that it expects profitability in the six months to June 30, to be lower than the previous six months.