Cable & Wireless was another to feel the telephone pinch, falling 14p to 498.5p.Abbey National ended 22.5p lower at 935p as the rumoured bid failed to materialise, producing the usual I-told-you-so chorus in certain quarters. Alliance & Leicester recovered 11p to 613p and National Westminster Bank improved 12p to 810.5p.Safeway rose 23.5p to 354.5p as results came in higher than expected and Airtours climbed 30p to 974.5p on its 28.8 per cent jump in summer bookings.British Airways flew 31p higher to 742.5p as a five-way international airline deal offered promising support that its proposed alliance with American Airlines will get the regulatory all-clear.De La Rue, the security printer, fell 26.5p to 501p in response to the still-to-be-confirmed placing by Merrill Lynch and builder Taylor Woodrow dropped 7p to 204p after a late trade of 1.35 million shares at 200.5p was printed.T&N, the vehicles components group, gained 8.5p to 137p after a merger plan by the German Kolbenschmidt group where it has a 24 per cent stake.Medeva, the health group, rose 14.5p to 286p with ABN Amro Hoare Govett and Merrill Lynch said to be positive.Building materials had an awkward time as Caradon warned of difficult European and US markets, clipping its shares 8p to 226.5p. The market, which has chased takeover candidates, was unsettled by proposed legislation to make life more difficult for hostile bidders and plans for higher mobile telephone charges.Some of the long-running takeover candidates lost some of their enthusiasm and mobile phone groups were misrouted with Vodafone off 6.5p to 275p and Orange 6.5p at 217.BT, despite conditional EU approval for its MCI deal, was lowered 3p to 449.5p because of its mobile connection. Footsie was on a roller coaster, climbing above 4,700 points again. But for the second day running it was unable to cling to such an exalted level and by the close was down to 4,686.9.The modest decline ended a remarkable 11-session winning streak which lifted the index more than 300.Supporting shares were again downcast with the FTSE 250 index off 3.7.Uncertainty created by the Queen's Speech took the shine from blue chips. Stories flowed around the stock market that the Kuwait Investment Office was hoping to sell all, or part, of its remaining shares, a 9.3 per cent stake. Fidelity, the big US investment house with 6.6 per cent of BP, was named as a possible buyer of some of the KIO interest.The Kuwaitis once had around 30 per cent but were forced to reduce their holding. If they are planning a further sale they will benefit from a BP price near its all-time high.The shares edged ahead 2p to 744.5p, so the KIO could expect to collect at least 720p a share, pricing its interest at around pounds 3.8bn.Other oils were mainly firm with Cairn Energy enjoying the benefit of an encouraging Bangladesh presentation, up 13p to 554p, and Enterprise Oil ahead 11p to 667.5p.The rest of the market had, by recent standards, an uncertain session.
Sage Group, the accounting software company, became the latest victim of foreign exchange movements yesterday. Currency fluctuations, particularly in the French franc, dollar and German mark, knocked pounds 5.5m from the group's half-year sales and more than pounds 1m from the pre-tax profit figure. The currency impact forced Sage shares lower in early trading in spite of a 20 per cent increase in interim profits to pounds 19.3m.However, the shares later recovered to close 1.5p higher on the day at 654.5p.Profits in all main markets, the UK, US and mainland Europe, grew.Sage expressed confidence that the pounds 40m acquisition of KHK, Germany's largest vendor of accounting software, would prove beneficial with Sage working to improve margins.In France the removal of overlapping product ranges cost pounds 2.5m in the first half while in the US operating profits rose by 16 per cent.On current trading, David Goldman, chairman, said the second half had started well and he expected the outcome for the full year to be satisfactory.Group sales were 2 per cent higher at pounds 73.6m in the six months to 31 March The dividend was increased by 10 per cent to 0.97p.. A huge placing of British Petroleum shares is believed to be under way. The acquisition of the Montrose Review Press group in March this year is expected to contribute to the full year results.Growth in local radio has also helped, with Downtown Radio, acquired last year, making a first-time contribution to group operating profits of pounds 445,000.Analysts have increased their profit projections for the full year. Jamie Matheson, at the Bell Lawrie White stockbroking firm, said he had increased his pre-tax profits forecast by pounds 700,000 to pounds 8.7m.He added: "The results vindicate completely the decision to go into local press."Earnings per share for the half-year improved by 24 per cent to 10.8p The interim dividend rises by 20 per cent to 3p..
The shares climbed 17p to an all-time high of 414p, although the price slipped back later in the day and closed at 405p.Mr Gordon said diversification into local press with the pounds 11.2m purchase of the Morton Newspapers group in November 1995 had worked well. Stripping out the impact of the rising pound, life profits were 25 per cent better.. Obtaining a second FM radio licence is high on the agenda for the rapidly- expanding Scottish Radio Holdings. James Gordon, chairman, said yesterday that Scottish may bid for Scot FM, or apply for the central Scotland licence, due to be advertised at the beginning of next year. Mr Gordon, who also announced a 39 per cent surge in interim profits to pounds 4.5m before tax, also said that group may even increase its 15 per cent stake in Radio Ireland, acquired last year. This was just one of several expansion options that the company was contemplating to bolster its presence in local radio and newspapers, he added.He confirmed the company would be looking for further acquisitions yesterday, as he announced pre-tax profits had increased by 39 per cent to pounds 4.5m in the six months to March.The results were well-received by investors and analysts. CU's net asset value rose 23p in the period to 568p.John Carter, chief executive, said the acquisition of SEV, a French life assurer, in April, meant life operations accounted for half of total group premium income. He said that proportion would rise in the future.Life profits increased over the quarter by pounds 4m to pounds 62m, also hit by exchange rate movements.
Fewer cars were stolen but arson, responsible for a quarter of all commercial fire claims, was significantly up on last year.The disappointing underwriting result confirmed the continuing difficulties plaguing the industry and left analysts puzzling over the sustainability of share prices, which are currently at a large premium to net assets.Traditionally the sector has been rated at a discount to the underlying value of its assets to reflect the inherent cyclicality of insurance underwriting but all the majors are currently valued by the stock market at up to a third more than their NAVs. Royal Sun Alliance and GRE also eased.Even after a much more benign winter in the US, the world-wide underwriting loss improved by only pounds 28m from pounds 99m to pounds 71m. At actual exchange rates profits rose pounds 19m to pounds 102m during the three months to March - using comparable rates the improvement would have been pounds 32m, or 46 per cent.Shares in all the composite insurers fell yesterday after CU admitted to losing pounds 32m on its UK underwriting account, pounds 6m more than last year. After lower investment returns from its upfront premium income, general insurance profits rose by only pounds 3m to pounds 67m.Other trends to emerge from CU's general insurance result included a sharp fall in thefts from commercial property, with last year's surge in computer thefts coming to an end. Commercial Union closed 15.5p lower at 734p, while General Accident shed 13p to 944.5p.