Sharewatch – W/E 21/02/97

Yorkshire Tyne-Tees Television staged a much needed recovery last week, making up the ground it lost when its non-involvement in the recent digital TV bids left its shares in the doldrums. That old favourite of rumours, that Granada would increase its stake in YTTV to mount a takeover, pushed the Yorkshire broadcaster’s price 42.5p on Friday to £12.15. The reason behind this thinking is that Granada is more likely to make its move now that it has finalised an agreement to sell its Welcome Break business. Granada dropped 8.5 to 918.5p.

Midland Independent Newspapers enjoyed a jump of 5.5p on Friday to 145.5p, making a comeback since rumours about the Mirror Group’s interest in it proved unfounded. Two weeks ago speculation that the Mirror had aborted a dawn raid on MIN shares pushed its price to above 150p.

Reed International also had a good week, rising 13.5p to £11.71 after talk that it is negotiating a mystery tie-up with Reuters. Reuters however dropped slightly to 671.5p