Burberry and Bodycote benefit from bid talk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/burberrygroupbusinessA couple of bits of bid speculation are just emerging in the mid-cap sector, albeit in rather different fields.

Firstly fashion business Burberry is up 17.5p to 480p on vague talk of a possible bid from US handbag maker Coach. The tale is not new, with Burberry's shares rising earlier this year on suggestions of interest from either Coach or PPR, which owns the Gucci brand.

Moving on, engineering group Bodycote has announced it is selling its testing business, which has pushed its shares 28.5p higher to 240p. The news has prompted talk that the slimmed down company could be a bid target. Bodycote last year rejected a number of offers from Swiss group Sulzer, and there have been suggestions Sulzer is still interested.