LONDON MARKET OPEN: Galliford Rises 6% After Rejecting Bovis Approach

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened slightly higher on Tuesday following the long bank holiday weekend, with Galliford Try leading midcaps after rejecting an approach from rival Bovis Homes for two of its units. The FTSE 100 was up 9.03 points, or 0.1% at 7,286.76. The FTSE 250 was up 4.30 points at 19,131.56. The AIM All-Share was up 0.42 point at 961.01.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.2% at 12,366.59. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 17,208.23, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.1% at 11,856.16.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.2%. On the London Stock Exchange, Rio Tinto was the best blue-chip performer, up 3.0% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the Anglo-Australian miner to Buy from Neutral. Antofagasta was up 2.0% after HSBC raised the Chilean copper miner to Hold from Reduce. In the FTSE 250, Galliford Try was the best performer, up 5.5% after the construction and housebuilding firm confirmed that it rejected a proposal from midcap housebuilder Bovis Homes to acquire Galliford's Linden Homes and Partnerships & Regeneration businesses.Bovis would have paid GBP950 million for the two Galliford business and also would have taken on GBP100 million of Galliford debt. All of this would have been paid for by new Bovis shares. However, Galliford rejected the proposal, and talks between both parties have now concluded.Galliford said the offer did not "fully value" the two businesses, and reiterated it remains confident in its long-term future.Bovis shares were down 0.1%. The two companies released the statements on Tuesday after media reports, with Sky News having said Saturday the two were in "secret talks". Under the proposal, the rump of Galliford would have remained an independent UK-listed company focused on construction. In 2017, Galliford Try abandoned an attempt to acquire Bovis Homes, having failed to reach an agreement with Bovis's board. "Any attempt to buy only the housing-related parts of this business are, in our view, going to be problematic. Galliford Try is a hybrid business of contracting and housing development, and we believe that these two businesses are tied and hard to separate or at least hard to split in a way that leaves a clean separation and a viable remnant business," said Shore Capital. Amigo Holdings was up 3.5% after the loans guarantor provider delivered strong maiden annual results after listing in July last year, against a "challenging external environment". For the financial year ended March 31, revenue was up 28% to GBP270.7 million from GBP210.8 million the year before, and pretax profit was up 67% to GBP111.0 million from GBP66.1 million last year.The company a proposed a final dividend of 7.45 pence, and a total annual dividend of 9.32p.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.2%.At a news conference in Tokyo on Monday, US President Donald Trump avoided remarks that could increase tensions about US trade issues with Japan and instead, praised the strong bilateral ties between the two countries, boosting investor sentiment.Trade issues also remained in investors' focus after Trump said that the US was "not ready" to make a trade deal with China.In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.4%, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both up 0.1%. Financial markets in the US were closed on Monday for Memorial Day. The economic calendar on Tuesday has UK mortgage approvals at 0930 BST and eurozone consumer confidence at 1000 BST. The pound was quoted at USD1.2668 Tuesday, lower than USD1.2687 at the London equities close Friday.Labour and the Conservatives' Brexit policies were dealt a hammer blow by voters in a terrible night for both parties in the European elections.The Brexit Party and the Liberal Democrats triumphed, but the scale of disaster for the main parties was laid bare as the final results for Great Britain were announced.The Tories secured just 9.1% of the vote - their worst ever national election share - while Labour finished on 14.1%, with voters split between the clear Brexit alternatives offered by Nigel Farage's new party and the pro-EU Liberal Democrats.Just four Conservatives were elected in England, Scotland and Wales, while the Brexit Party had 29 seats, overtaking the 24 MEPs that Farage's former party Ukip sent to the European Parliament in 2014. The Lib Dems, reduced to just a single MEP in 2014, were on 16 after their best ever European results.UK Prime Minister Theresa May said it was a "very disappointing night" for the Conservatives."The results of the European Parliamentary elections will continue to be digested. In the UK, the two main Westminster parties performed poorly: the Conservatives were in fifth place behind the Greens, while Labour was beaten into third place by the Liberal Democrats. The Brexit Party came first. The electorate remains split on Brexit, and markets will focus on how the two largest Westminster parties react. Some have suggested that a shift towards a 'no deal' by the Conservatives could lead to a general election," said analysts at Lloyds.