Beyond the Footsie: Weds close

12 April 2012

SMALLER company shares closed the session sharply higher, in contrast to their blue-chip counterparts which were hit hard by a slump in oil heavyweights BP and Shell as concerns about non-Opec oil production cuts sent the crude price falling.

At the close, the FTSE Small Cap index ended up 62.1 points at 2,523.6, and just shy of its 2,526.8 high of the day.

Gameplay headed the Small Cap leaders board, up 0.57p or 76% at 132p after it confirmed it is still in offer talks - though it played down speculation that a deal was imminent and cautioned that ongoing discussions could still end without a firm deal.

Kalamazoo Computer Group also surged ahead, up 1½p at 9¼p, as followers cheered news it is in talks which could see it sell all of its businesses and assets as a continuing business. Should such a deal be struck, the group is likely to result in a distribution to shareholders of around 10p a share.

Shares in AIM-listed Henderson Morley rose ½p to 6¼p after the firm confirmed speculation that its herpes treatment was effective in trials.

Yeoman Group was another winner, up 32½p at 155p, excited by news that Hansa Trust now holds a 5.75% stake.

Redstone Technology, which supplies computer products to the defence and aerospace industries, rose 30p at 190½p after it suggested that increased defence budgets are likely to accelerate the long-term growth of the business.

On the downside, shares in property developer Helical Bar fell 2½p to 766½p despite news that its gearing at the end of the year was reduced to 66% from 96%.

Acambis ran into profit taking, down 6p at 232½p, after recent gains won on talk that the biotechnology group is on a shortlist of three companies hoping to win, or share in, a US government contract for the manufacture of sufficient smallpox vaccine to protect the entire population of America.

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