Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
UK stocks opened lower on Monday after the Fed adopted a more hawkish tone on interest rates, though the local supermarket sector was boosted by a bid for Morrisons.
At 0822, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 32.99 points, or 0.5%, at 6,984.48.
Morrisons jumped 32% to 235.5p on confirming that it had rejected a £5.5 billion takeover proposal from funds managed by private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
Morrisons said the proposed cash offer of 230p per share 'significantly undervalued' the company.
Indications that at least one investor is seeing value in the sector helped Tesco rise 2.8% to 227.95p and Sainsbury's rise 4.5% to 271.8p.
Digital services provider Capita gained 3.9% to 39.11p on announcing that it would receive net cash proceeds of £172.5 million from the sale of the Axelos joint venture to PeopleCert International.
Capital also said it remained on track to deliver revenue growth in 2021, for the first time in six years.
The Renewable Infrastructure Group fell 0.2% to 127.18p after power generation was halted at the 396MW megawatt Merkur offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, due to stress fatigue in its GE turbines.
TRIG said contractual provisions with GE included a mechanism to protect lost revenue whilst turbines were not operational, subject to a cap that currently wasn't expected to be exceeded.
IT services and cloud hosing company SysGroup reversed 5.2% to 44.1p, having swung to a modest annual profit as cost control helped offset falling sales.
SysGroup's pre-tax profit for the year through March amounted to £0.21 million, compared to a year-on-year loss of £0.23 million. Its revenue fell 7% to £18.1 million.
Chocolate maker Hotel Chocolat shed 0.8% to 366.05p, having agreed to acquire the 53% of Rabot 1745 -- a loss-making restaurant overlooking London's Borough Market -- that it didn't own for the nominal sum of £4.
Consumer goods group Venture Life added 0.9% to 98p after it secured a credit facility from Santander UK and Silicon Valley Bank worth up to £30 million.
Career guidance and development platform Dev Clever rallied 14% to 42.3p following news that it had secured a partnership with Dubai-based Aldebaron to bolster its international rollout plans.
Dev Clever also agreed to acquire education business The Inspirational Learning Group for £0.2 million in cash and 6 million Dev Clever shares.
Construction group NMCN slumped 8.9% to 179.8p as it struck a recapitalisation agreement involving a deeply discounted £29 million fundraising with Svella and other investors.
The deal included a £10 million convertible bridging loan, £14 million equity raising and a £5 million open offer, all at 20p per share, representing a 90% discount to NMCN's closing price Friday.
Sustainable fuels developer Velocys ascended 5.3% to 5.84p after its aviation fuel using woody biomass residue was used in a commercial flight by Japan Airlines.
Japan Airlines flight 515 from Tokyo to Sapporo was completed on 17 June.