Leisure group Rank is among the leading fallers after the surprise resignation of finance director Peter Gill, along with talk that a bid may not emerge.
Gill said that the company had been restructured and it was time to leave, but the market was not sure how to take this and Rank is now down 5.75p at 94p.
At the same time there were doubts about whether Malaysia's Genting would in fact bid. Rank's shares have been supported by hopes of an offer from Genting, rival Guoco or indeed another predator.
Kaupthing said: "Peter had only been with Rank for a few years (he joined in July 2005) and so we are slightly surprised by this move." Kaupthing was also surprised by a Reuters story suggesting that Genting has not made an offer for Rank and is unlikely to be preparing one.
"This may remove some of the recent bid speculation in the stock - although most people believe that the main frontrunner to make an offer is Guoco rather than Genting. However, if Genting is not interested in acquiring Rank then it removes some of the potential bid-tension in the stock."
Landsbanki was taken aback too: "There is no mention as to the reason for his departure or whether he has another job to go to. While not wanting to speculate as to the exact reasons why, the announcement does not give any encouragement as to current trading, nor does it add weight to the speculation that the group is about to receive a bid, for which he would presumably get a payoff if it was successful.
"Reinforcing the ongoing challenges facing Rank in its bingo and casino businesses, we note yesterday that its smaller bingo peer Top Ten Holdings had issued a modest profit warning and its larger peer Gala Coral, has received a cash injection from its private equity backers, to avoid the risk of breaching banking covenants, in the more challenging environment.
"While we recognise the three significant stakeholders in [Rank], we do note only one (Hong Leong Company) has been raising its stake in recent weeks, and typically at lower levels. We can not rule out a bid, although we do question why anyone would want to pay a premium for casino and bingo assets."
Overall the market is in an uncertain mood after its recent rises, with the FTSE 100 down 9.3 points at 5906.6. Miners were lifted by firmer precious metal prices and a number of positive broker notes. Anglo American is 75p higher at £30.93 after a buy note from Investec, while Xstrata added 63p to £36.57 on renewed hopes of a bid from Brazil's Vale.
Chocolate and soft drinks group Cadbury Schweppes added 12.5p to 579.5p after Cazenove moved its recommendation from in-line to outperform.
.png?w=600)
