Lillian Tan, the retailer’s chief executive, played down the buyout rumours yesterday. As far as she is concerned, corporate action is not on the cards at present. Finally, Fonebak, which mends old mobile phones for resale, rose 14p to 159.5p as brokers suggested that the company is trading ahead of budget.. By the time in 2003 Andy Stewart, the “Stewart” in Collins Stewart, left the stockbroker he founded 12 years previously, it had started to interfere with his hobbies. “It became so big, and when it bought Tullett it had 19 offices in 17 countries,” he said.

“And then I saw that there was a board meeting scheduled for the day of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. That was the last straw.”
Mr Stewart is a racing fanatic, and has been since he used to miss school in Essex to go point-to-pointing and hitchhike to Liverpool for the Grand National. A consortium formed in the share-dealing room at Chase Manhattan in 1986 gave him his first taste of ownership and he now has 16 horses and is a member of the colourful horse-owning, share-trading set which includes Trevor Hemmings and the Irish duo, John Magnier and JP McManus.They are just the start of an enviable network of contacts that he can draw on now he is back in the City. His four-month-old stockbroking business – named after his most successful steeplechaser, Cenkos – is already rattling rivals, including his old firm. He has poached some high-profile staff from Collins Stewart and elsewhere, and already raised funds for two of the biggest flotations on AIM this year.Mr Stewart retired the horse Cenkos on a high this year, but he has never had any intention of retiring himself, despite leaving Collins Stewart at the end of 2003.”If you retire, you never get a day off,” he says, speaking in his usual fashion, at 19 to the dozen.The arrival of Cenkos Securities has generated a frisson of excitement for observers of a mid-market broking sector beset by clashing egos and titanic ambition. It accounts for 20 per cent of Vodafone’s total sales and has been a fly in the ointment for its management for some time. BPB retreated 1p to 734p as several hedge funds took bear positions in the stock.

According to their logic, should Saint-Gobain return with a fresh offer for the company, it is unlikely to bid more than 770p a share for the plasterboard maker. In such a case, those hedge funds short will lose 36p for every share they short (the difference between BPB’s current price and 770p). But there is also a good chance Saint-Gobain’s offer for BPB might altogether fail, say the hedge funds. This would cause BPB shares to slump back down to 550p (where they traded before the French group’s initial offer). Such a scenario will see hedge funds with bear positions bag 184p for every BPB share they are shorting. Hence, by betting against the stock now, they are risking 36p to potentially win up to 184p a share. Deutsche Bank and Citigroup both scaled back their recommendations on ICI shares after their 10 per cent leap on Thursday.

ICI dropped 7p to 289.5p as Deutsche and Citigroup both cut their stances on the stock to “hold” from “buy”. The German broker said: “While we expect the group’s earnings resilience to continue, we believe the shares now reflect fair value.” Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 index finished 0.8 points lower at 5,314.7 as strong gains by blue chips early during the day were lost after a weak start to trading on Wall Street Logistics group Exel rose 9p to a new high of 962.5p. Premier Oil rallied 21.5p to 738p, Dana Petroleum put on 17p to 733p and BG Group rose 6p to 494.25p as investors took the view that the recent coup in Mauritania is unlikely to negatively impact the trio’s operations in the West African country. The removal of President Taya by a group of army officers has been a bloodless affair so far and analysts do not expect the new regime to conduct a major change in the country’s policy towards foreign oil companies.

Among smaller companies Floors 2 Go, up 3p to 36p, was a major talking point. Bid rumours surrounded the floor-coverings retailer from the start of the day. In an attempt to stop the frenzy of speculation, Floors 2 Go yesterday rushed out a statement saying it knew of no reason for the recent jump in its share price. Hopes that Laura Ashley would soon be taken private pushed its shares 1p higher to 13.75p. Bollor?who disclosed the shareholding on Thursday, has not ruled out adding to his stake in Aegis and many believe his aim is to force a marriage between the media buyer and Havas, where he is also a major investor. Meanwhile, evidence of consolidation among European broadcasters got investors talking about ITV’s future.