Talk of a mega-move by Oracle for EMC keeps US buzzing

After reports last night that AOL could team up with private equity for a bid for search engine Yahoo, rumours spread that another major takeover bid in the computing sector could be on the cards.

The gossips reckon EMC Corporation, the largest provider of data storage platforms in the world, has found itself a suitor, with cash-rich Oracle thought most likely to be eyeing it up. However, Microsoft, whose advances for Yahoo were spurned two years ago, was also mentioned as a possible suitor.

The bid is said to be at a stonking $40 a pop, a hefty mark-up on the $20.37, up 0.5%, EMC's shares were changing hands for last night in New York.

If there are any grounds to the speculation, it would be an enormous deal: EMC has a market capitalisation of around $42 billion.

Back in Blighty, another software company was also enjoying the spotlight — Innovation Group. Shares in the company, many of whose clients come from the financial services industry, soared 1¼p to 14.4p, a rise on the day of almost 10%, amid whispers that a suitor is willing to cough up between 17p and 19p for the company. by 11am, 2.5 million shares had changed hands, around the usual number in a day.

Shares in London were marked down slightly following strong gains yesterday, with the FTSE 100 index sliding 5.14 points to 5742.21. It hit its highest level in five months yesterday.

Thirty-three miners in Chile were being cheered across the globe as heroes this morning, but other employees in the metals industry apparently haven't bathed themselves in glory.

African Barrick Gold was the worst performing blue-chip as the gold miner said it had been forced to suspend a chunk of its workforce at its new Buzwagi mine after discovering systematic on-site fuel theft. The company has cut its target for production this year for the second time in three months as a result. Its shares, down a fifth since hitting a high in June, lost 52p to 572p.

The rest of the metal big boys were largely marked higher, however, as the dollar weakened and therefore metal prices rose, with copper at a 27-month high. Mexican silver producer Fresnillo was 24p stronger at 1305.7p, Rio Tinto was 78½p better at 4116½p and Xstrata rose 13p to 1313p.

Vodafone claimed the crown on the top tier, advancing 3p to 167p thanks to a broker thumbs-up. Nomura analyst James Britton advised snapping up the mobile phone giant's shares and hiked up the target price from 168p to 200p. He said its cost-cutting initiatives are paying off and that an improved outlook for dividend payouts from its joint venture with Verizon could lead to a "step-change" in cash flow.

Among smaller stocks, oil explorer Encore Oil lost 7¼p to 119p. Traders were initially scrabbling round to work out why, fearing that there might be bad news on drilling in the pipeline. However, they eventually realised that it was down to a delay in the arrival of the Transocean Galaxy II rig because of bad weather. "It doesn't warrant the sell-off it has had," said one dealer.

SHARES PORTFOLIO

by the Standard's City Staff

Buy: Cineworld
Splash out on shares in movie chain Cineworld, says Panmure Gordon. "It demonstrated admirable resilience during the recession and appears well-positioned to benefit from the technological change driving the ongoing evolution of the cinema market," analysts note. They add that the shares are "not expensive", and rate them buy.

Sell: Asos
Despite Asos's second-quarter trading figures coming in line with the expectations of Singer Capital Markets, it rates the shares a sell. "The first-half pre-tax profit increase will probably fall short of our £8.4 million forecast, at around £7 million," they say. With a 725p target well below the current trading level, they say sell.

Hold: JD Wetherspoon
After cheap-pubs group Wetherspoon announced today that its finance director and chief operating office "will be leaving the company in due course", Seymour Pierce analysts say that's "frankly disappointing". But, for now they remain holders.

TRADER TALK

by Drazen Jorgic, Citywire.co.uk

Polar Capital hedge fund manager Robert Gurner has increased his stake in agricultural retailer Wynnstay Group by 115,000 shares to 596,000 shares, representing around 3.62% of the company and worth £1.8 million.

Gurner is the lead fund manager on Polar Capital's £277 million European Forager fund, which has given an impressive performance for several years.

This year Wynnstay bought the Yorkshire seed-processing and supply business Woodheads Seeds for more than £3 million. In its half-year results, it announced an 8% rise in profits to £3.74 million and the board said it was positive about both long and short-term prospects.

Wynnstay's chairman, John Davies, said: "The group's broad spread of agricultural activities has helped to ensure good results from the Agricultural Division against variable trading conditions."