Market Notes
By CUSTOS
FoRGE-rrrtsto Rhodesia and encouraged by the exceptional trade figures for November the new account on the Stock Exchange opened firmly with an increase in turnover and some good rises in industrial shares. A temporary 'bear' squeeze in ICI was symptomatic. The market is technically short of shares and with so many take- over bids flying around no shareholder wants to sell if he imagines his company could be taken over. British industry has been described as being In a phase of rapid structural change' and cer- tainly the take-over bids support that idea. The shareholders of PYE are still waiting for new bids from either THORN or PHILIPS LAMPS. TELEPHONE RENTALS is spurning the bid from GEC, IDRIS is accepting the bid from BEECHAMS and CROMPTON PARKINSON directors have rejected the bid from HAWKER SIDDELEY. All these 'bids' add up to over £75 million. Now comes the £25 million LEYLAND bid for RovER-three Leyland shares plus £3 17s 6d of 7f per cent unsecured loan stock for every fifteen Rover shares. This works out at just over 14s at the present price of Ley- lands (44s 3d) and as Rovers were previously quoted at 11s they have been an excited market at 13s 9d. Brokers are busy looking around for further likely bids. SHIPTON AUTOMATION has been picked out, also YARDLEY, GALA COSMETICS, ULTRA and ELLIOTT AUTOMATION.
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