Punters flock to IFX

IFX Group, Britain’s only listed spread betting group, hit its highest level since April last year yesterday amid talk that it could be a takeover target for a larger rival.

Its shares rose 8p to 114p, with some City punters convinced the company – in which Vincent Tchenguiz, the property entrepreneur, has built a 3.35% stake – is already in talks with a bidder. Others said a better explanation for yesterday’s rise was the news that emerged at the weekend that IG Index had appointed advisers with a view to a stock market flotation. The company, which also runs spread betting, added in a statement on Tuesday that any possible offer would be “at a small discount” to its current share price.

IG was reported to be looking at a valuation of between £250m and £300m, which makes IFX look reasonable value.

The company has a market value of £32m and about £15m of cash on its balance sheet.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.