Sharewatch W/E 17/10/97

Newsquest hit the stock market on Thursday at 250p and immediately rose 2p as it became apparent that the shares were oversubscribed. The float, at the lower end of the forecast 250p-290p, created a cash pile of around £100m and valued the company at £500m. It is estimated that 80% of Newsquest staff bought shares while other investors came from 11 different countries.

BT’s shares rose 24.5p on Thursday to 471.5p as it emerged that its bid for MCI could be saved by the intervention of GTE. It is suggested that the US telecoms firm might be seeking a three way partnership which would include BT.

A Merrill Lynch switch from “accumulate” to “neutral” on BSkyB sent the satellite broadcaster down 2p to 445.5p on Monday while talk of US interest in Pearson meant the media group rose 24.5 to 823.5p on Monday and 17.5 to 841p on Thursday.

News of the merger between Reed Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer sent Reed 97p higher on Monday to 629p, though a spate of profit taking created a dip of 14.5p the next day, with shares finishing on 614.5p