Thus - The New Ashtead?

From Daily Telegraph.....

Market report
By Yvette Essen (Filed: 01/01/2005)

Shares end the year with a note of heady optimism

Dealers speculated 2005 would bring a third year of bullish trading as the benchmark FTSE 100 ended up 7.5pc on the year.

The blue-chip index traded in a tight 21-point range during the half-day session on New Year's Eve. It closed 5.8 lower at 4814.3 but the FTSE 250 climbed a further 13.7 to a year high of 6936.8. Volumes were incredibly low, with only 941m shares traded.

Jason Berry, a stockbroker at Eden Group, predicted there will be consolidation in a number of sectors. "By the end of the next year, I think the FTSE 100 will be at 5500," he said.

"Weak performances from retailers, telecoms and technology companies make some stocks vulnerable to mergers and acquisitions, especially in the first half of the year."

Binexx.com, a financial betting exchange, said its clients were speculating there was a 70pc chance that the index would end 2005 higher. Senior dealer Christopher Sparke said: "There is a bullish feeling at the moment and our customers are estimating the FTSE 100 could finish the year at between 5050 and 5100."

Gilts enjoyed their second consecutive day of gains, although the short-dated 4pc Treasury stock 2009 was only 16-basis points lower than a year ago. The benchmark gilt rose 11p to £98.17, yielding 4.48pc. Twelve months ago it was priced at £97.10 and yielded 4.64pc.

Price movements were more significant at the long-end, with Treasury 4¼pc 2036 up 66p to £97.42, yielding 4.40pc. A year ago it was worth £93.37, yielding 4.65pc.

Defence company Smiths Group was one of the main FTSE 100 risers, up 8½ to a two-and-a-half year high of 822p.

Dealers were a bit more positive about some of the retailers, causing electronics group Dixons to rise 1½ to 152p, clothing chain Marks & Spencer to tick up 1 to 343p and music group HMV to put on 4 to 260p.

However, the smaller retailers proved more unpopular. JJB Sports slipped 1 to a 12-month low of 176¾p, MFI Furniture drifted 2¼ to 124p and catalogue group N Brown fell 5 to 120p.

Tobacco stocks were weaker. British American Tobacco fell 6½ to 897½p, Imperial Tobacco shed 6p to £14.27 and Gallaher eased 1½ to 791½p.

There were some large trades in steel group Corus, the main blue-chip faller, down 1¼ to 50½p.

The transactions, which took place in the closing auction, included one trade of 4.84m shares at 50½p, another of 2m at 50.67p and a third of 4m shares at 50.4p. Overall volumes in Corus reached 23.5m shares.

In the FTSE 250, insulation product distributor SIG rose 19½ to an all-time high of 585p. The shares have surged over the past year, thanks to new building regulations on thermal emissions.

Aggreko made further gains as the tragedy in South East Asia continued to unfold, rising as high as 173¾p before settling up 1¾ on the day to 168p.

The shares have rallied 16p, or 10.5pc, over the past three days of trading on hopes that there will be more demand for its for its mobile power generators.

SSL International, the condoms-to-sandals manufacturer, also continued to hold steady on the back of bid chatter. The shares edged up 1 to 315p, taking its gains over the past three trading days to 36p, or 12.9pc.

Dealers attempted to guess which stocks would be tipped by the media in the new year. Some speculated that Pursuit Dynamics, a developer of steam-based fluids technology, could benefit from positive press. The shares rose 7½ to an all-time high of 227p.

On Aim, the online bookmaker Sportingbet advanced 3¼ to 189¼p on hopes that there will be consolidation in the sector and that trading in December has been strong.

Circle Oil, the Irish exploration and production group that joined the market in October, rose 4½ to a high of 27p.

Energy Technique slumped ½ to 3p after posting an increased pre-tax loss of £924,000, up from a loss of £679,000. The company blamed "extremely difficult" trading conditions in its diffusion heating and cooling division.

Thistle Mining fell 0.12p to 0.5p after the suspension of its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange due to the restructuring of the group.

Thistle said that it intends to apply for reinstatement of trading in its shares in Canada but can make no assurances that it will satisfy all the listing requirements.

Rheochem, the oil and gas and mining services company, improved 5½ to 24½p.

Shares in the company were placed on Aim at 16p on Thursday.