Stockwatch

SPECULATION is afoot that Broker Network has another acquisition lined up ahead of next Tuesday's full-year results.

The Aim-listed network of independent community brokers unveiled its purchase of Scotland's Fraser Tennant Holdings, a company with a turnover of around £9m, on Monday.

Dealers reckon its thirteenth takeover since floating on Aim in May 2004 is likely to be of a company around the size of its previous acquisitions, with a turnover closer to £1.7m.

They are also hoping for upbeat results. Broker Network shares were trading at around 106p as Insurance Times went to press on Tuesday.

Wellington was also in the spotlight this week. Bridgewell published a bullish note on the company after a meeting with the insurer on Monday: "We continue to believe that Wellington is a well-run, mid-cap insurer with the potential to deliver significant returns to shareholders in coming months. We regard it as a relatively low risk play on this stage of the insurance cycle."

The stockbroker repeated its overweight recommendation on the stock, calculating the disposal of its Aspen stake would lift earnings per share by approximately 4p. Wellington is trading around a three-year high of 107p.

' Yvette Essen is stock market reporter and insurance correspondent for the Daily Telegraph