Market report: Tuesday close
ACCOUNTING software specialist
Founder and former director Graham Wylie, 42, has sold 65.15m shares, reducing his holding to 3%. Deutsche Bank placed them for a flat fee with various institutions at
178 1/2p.
Wylie raised eyebrows in March after he sold shares worth £7m prior to a critical broker's note that sent the price tumbling to a low of 115p. The following month he announced his resignation from the board, but assured the market he would not be dumping more shares.
The latest disposal comes one day after Sage indicated pre-tax profits and revenue for the year just ended were in line with expectations. City analysts are forecasting earnings of £151m, a rise of 12%, on sales 4% higher at £560m. The shares hit an 18-month high of 199p earlier this month but remain well below the 930p reached at the peak of the hi-tech boom three years ago.
Rival Intec Telecom Systems, up 14 1/2p at 58p, says full-year pre-tax profits will be £5m, substantially ahead of forecasts. The software specialist's clients include France Telecom and Vodafone.
The wider market traded below its best levels of the day after Wall Street made a nervous start to trading this afternoon. London's FTSE 100 index clung to a gain of just 4.8 at 4352.3.
Britain's fourth-largest supermarkets chain, Safeway, firmed 3 1/4p to 285 1/2p after it emerged the boss of Bhs and Arcadia, Philip Green, had requested and received fresh financial information on it.
The Government recently gave Wm Morrison, 1 1/4p better at 218 1/4p, the go-ahead to bid for Safeway but blocked similar moves by J Sainsbury, 3p cheaper at 273 1/2p, Tesco, 2p lighter at 237 3/4p, and Asda, owned by US giant Wal-Mart. Green was given clearance in March to make his bid.
Safeway is valued at £2.9bn but reported a further decline in business during the summer.
Drugs giant AstraZeneca rose 8p to 2783p as Deutsche Bank repeated its buy recommendation and 3500p price target ahead of Thursday's third-quarter numbers. The City will want to see how its new cholesterol treatment, Crestor, has fared in the US.
Cadbury Schweppes retreated 4 3/4p to 394 1/2p after US investment bank JP Morgan repeated its underweight stance and 350p price target.
But Anglo-Dutch household goods giant Unilever rallied 15p to 501 1/2p after yesterday's warning about growth potential for its leading brands. US securities house Goldman Sachs has raised the shares from in-line to outperform, while Lehman Brothers repeated its overweight stance but cut its target from 750p to 635p.
Brambles Industries was off 1/2p at 179 3/4p after telling shareholders at its annual meeting the first half will be weaker than last year's, but that it expects a better second half. British Airways soared 11p to 197p on turnover of more than 23m shares after favourable Press comment in the US.
Newcomer Wolfson Microelectronics rose 9p to 255p as trading went unconditional. The shares were placed at 210p last week and touched 275p, prompting institutional clients to bank profits.
Biotech specialist Xenova rose 2 3/4p to 15 3/4p after a study by Imperial College London found its OX40 molecule can be used to combat influenza A symptoms in mice.
