Scottish Power leads the FTSE

Scottish Power was leading the FTSE 100 Index higher today as investors cheered the prospect of a takeover by a German utility firm.

The stock added 4% to its market value following last night’s confirmation that Powergen owner E.On was weighing up a potential offer, making it the highest blue-chip climber.

A clutch of other energy firms also made strong progress as the Footsie lifted 12.2 points to 5350 by mid-morning.

Scottish Power added 21.5p to 568p after also warning of job cuts as part of plans to achieve cost savings worth £60m (€88.7m) a year, while National Grid advanced 14p to 563p and Centrica climbed 6.25p to 260p. A string of other rivals were not far behind, with Scottish & Southern Energy rising 19p to 1033.5p and International Power adding 3.25p to 237p.

But the biggest movement came from outside the top flight, with online gaming group PartyGaming losing a third of its market value – down 53p to 104p – after it warned growth in online gaming was slowing.

PartyGaming said the amount of profit earned from each player and retention rates continued to decline as more casual punters logged on to its sites.

Another faller in the lower tiers was Branston Pickle group Premier Foods after it reported a fall in sales from continuing operations, as its business supplying bagged potatoes to retailers and wholesalers suffered a drop in turnover of 34.4% to £58.3m (€86.2m). Shares lost 7.5p to 318p.

News of an 18% fall in first-half profits at housebuilder George Wimpey failed to shock investors, as the group had already warned in July that profits would be well below 2004’s levels.

The stock lost 2.5p to 412p, with rival Bellway suffering heavier losses – off more than 2% or 20p to 832.5p.