Retail stockbroker Share saw its own stock sold off on Thursday, as investors ditched the business after abortive takeover talks.
The firm, whose main business is The Share Centre, saw its share price surge last week to its highest level for almost four years after it confirmed a takeover approach from larger rival Interactive Investor. But its suitor, which is the UK’s second-biggest investment platform, today said it has dropped a possible bid.
AIM-listed broking firm Share said “discussions may be resumed… with the approval of the board”.
But that wasn’t enough to keep the Square Mile sweet, and the price of Share was down 3.4p, or more than 9%, to 32.05p.
The FTSE 100, was also down 40.93 points to 7229.98 as the City continued to look at the prospect of crunch trade talks between the US and China which are trying to avert Donald Trump’s latest tariff crackdown.
Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said that the uncertainty is “doing nothing to relieve the market’s unease”. Shares in British fashion group Burberry, which could be particularly vulnerable to any upheaval in the Asian economy, lost 42.5p to 1897.5p.
Other fallers on the blue-chip index included ITV, which is led by Dame Carolyn McCall. It fell 4.6p to 119p, as investors continued to digest the broadcaster’s warning yesterday that total advertising is expected to be down 6% over the first half. It is grappling with economic and political uncertainty.
The City also avoided turnaround group Melrose, which today said senior director David Roper has decided to step down and retire next May.
Roper is one of the co-founders of the business which last year won an £8 billion hostile bid for GKN. Shares in Melrose decreased 3.37p to 185.63p.
It wasn’t all bad news, though, on the Footsie. Housebuilder Barratt was among the biggest risers as it said the full-year outlook is “modestly” above the £870 million pre-tax profits analysts had pencilled in.
In its update for the first four months of the year, the firm said forward sales were up 2.4% to £3.4 billion and weekly sales reservations levels remained largely static.
Barratt was more upbeat than rivals, which have warned of buyer jitters and slower sales. Shares in the business rose 11.8p to 597.8p.
The FTSE 250 index was down 210.34 points to 19321.57.
