Stockwatch

Despite expectations that Apollo would make a revised bid for Brit last week following the insurer’s rejection of the private equity firm’s initial £10-a-share offer at the beginning of the month, all has been quiet. Brit’s share price dipped from a high of 954p last Tuesday to 902p at the beginning of this week.

But that doesn’t mean the market has lost hope that Apollo will return with a better offer. “If it was another week and a half and we hadn’t had anything, then I would be less optimistic,” Panmure Gordon analyst Barrie Cornes said. “But at this stage I still think the chances are that something will come out of this.”

Cornes points out that while Brit’s share price has declined, the market overall is down, and the stock has not returned to pre-offer levels of around 730p, which he would expect to happen if a deal did not materialise.

“The fact that the share price is holding up at just short of £9 would suggest people are still optimistic that something will happen,” Cornes said.

Prices

Market indices Movers Price 7-day Currency

FTSE 100 5,071.68 THB Group 55.50 6.73% Dollar 1.51

FTSE 250 9,644.88 AXA 13.44 -4.27% Euro 1.22

FTSE All-share 2,621.73 Hiscox 341.10 -3.15% Yen 134.33