Johnston Press, Lavendon and Rentokil Initial

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“The FTSE100 continued to hover tantalising close to the psychologically important 7000 mark in early trading with investors looking to the Confederation of British Industry’s order expectations and the Bank of England’s quarterly bulletin. Eurozone's consumer-price index and trade balance will be closely watched, too,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

Johnston Press was a double-digit riser after agreeing to sell 13 titles in East Anglia and East Midlands for £17m. The sale of the titles and their websites marks a major milestone in the group’s divestment strategy and puts it firmly on the path of refocusing its activities on areas with the greatest growth potential. The group’s shares were up by 12% in early trading.

Lavendon was the standout performer on the FTSE Small Cap board as Loxam and TVH continued their bidding war for the group. TVH seized the initiative yesterday with a revised bid but Loxham responded this morning by increasing its all-cash offer to 250p per share, which is 20p above TVH’s bid. TVH has not thrown in the towel, though, and is currently mulling its options. Meanwhile, Lavendon’s shares continue to appreciate and were up by more than 7% in early trading.

Rentokil Initial's shares rose after the group agreed to form a joint venture with Haniel which will be a leading provider of workwear and hygiene services in Europe with combined revenues of about €1.1bn. The joint venture will bring together Rentokil Initial's workwear and hygiene businesses in 10 countries principally in the Benelux and central and eastern Europe, together with Haniel's businesses in 17 countries which operate under the CWS-boco brand. Rentokil Initial’s shares were up by over 7.4%.”

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