Abbey shares climb after takeover report

Shares in banking group Abbey were leading the stock market today after a report claimed it had received an informal takeover approach from a Spanish bank.

Abbey’s stock climbed to the top of the FTSE 100 Index, rising 3% or 13.25p to 445.245p, after the Financial Times said Spain’s biggest bank, Santander Central Hispano (SCH), had expressed an interest in buying the UK group.