Arriva pushes back borders

Jul 17 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

DESPITE a late rally, Wednesday saw a further fall for London equities as the FTSE 100 index gave up an early 38-point gain to close 21.3 points lower at 5150.6.

The troubled banking sector suffered again and shares in most of the UK’s largest financial institutions were nursing heavy losses.

The largest rise in UK jobless claims for 16 years added to the gloom and sentiment was dampened further as the US reported higher-than-expected inflation data.

In the regional portfolio, transport operator Arriva announced it had completed the acquisition of Interbus Invest, a provider of bus services in Slovakia and Hungary.

The buy increases the company’s operating countries to 12.

Shares in Arriva ended the day 31p higher at 702p, a rise of 4.5%. Elsewhere in The Journal North 40, Northgate was another strong performer as its shares climbed 7.5p to end the session at 312p.

Shares in Opsec Security saw a rise of 1p to 44.5p and Northumbrian Water also ended the session in positive territory, rising 8.75p to 310.25p.

Stadium Group, the electronic engineering specialist at Hartlepool, where we act as broker, saw its shares decline almost 14% with a fall of 6p to 37p.

Wellstream continued its recent slide with its shares down 44p to 990p.

Northern Bear shares were also under pressure as they ended the day 4p lower at 78p.

John Dance John.dance@brewin.co.uk