ICG takeover rumour sparks slight Iseq rise

Takeover speculation has aided a slight rise in the Iseq this morning.

Irish Continental Group are said to be in talks with the Doyle Group and One Fifty One Capital Ltd to buy the ferries group. They are offering €20 per share.

Coming up to 11am, the Dublin stock exchange was at 9,415.55 after a rise of 14.57 points with sahres in ICG up 50c to €20.

The financials have largely negated the positive effect from ICG with all but AIB (up four cents to €21.49) seeing their stock fall. Anglo Irish Bank are down 10c to €15.66 and both Bank of Ireland and Irish Life and Permanant are down eight cents to €16.02 and €20.57 respectively.

The major faller of the morning is insurance giant FBD Holdings who have seen their stock tumble 60c to €38.30.

But this has failed to ruin the positive mood headed by ICG with Paddy Power up 45c to €20.70 and Kingspan up 41c to €20.45. The food sector has joined in the upbeat morning as IAWS climbed 35c to €17.60 and Kerry Group soared 38c to €21.75.