Its shares gained 11p to 143

Its shares gained 11p to 143.5p after the company assured investors that full year figures would meet hopes and indicated that the group had made a solid start to 2004.. In the chip sector, Wolfson Microelectronics dropped 9.5p to 312.5p, ARM Holdings retreated 2.75p to 137.75p and Ceva dropped 7.5p to 640p after America’s RF Micro Devices issued a profit warning.Among telecom equipment makers, Spirent dropped 4.25p to 75p, Bookham Technology gave up 3p to 176.25p and Marconi retreated 22.5p to 674p.BATM Advanced Communications bucked the trend, to go 0.75p higher to 25.5p in heavy trading, on talk that the group has experienced a strong pick-up in business and will be making presentations to institutions at the start of next month. Shares in BATM were last week boosted by whispers that the group is close to securing a major deal in China.LogicaCMG lost 5.5p to 301p despite news that Deutsche Bank had added the stock to its UK Focus List, which consists of the broker’s favourite 10 London listed stocks. Deutsche believes LogicaCMG will benefit greatly from the much predicted upturn in telecom spending.Avocet Mining was in demand, rising 3.5p to 77.5p, on talk that gold production at its Malaysian operations is running well ahead of internal estimates. Gossips reckon current market forecasts on Avocet may prove to be far too conservative.XKO Group added 4p to 102.5p following the purchase of 25,000 shares at 100p by William Good, the finance director.4imprint, which makes advertising trinkets stamped with corporate logos, soared 31p to 133.5p, after boasting that it had experienced a pick-up in orders. Word has it the company has enjoyed a very strong start to the current booking period, with business said to be up by between 25 and 30 per cent.Technology stocks suffered as corporate data from across the Atlantic failed to live up to expectations. The broker told its clients to take profits from the recent strength of Shire’s share price but also expressed concerns at a lack of products at the company.

“While the business appears to be doing well in the near term, we see no escape from a collapse in the stock’s multiple if Shire does not acquire new products during 2004,” said Citigroup. These comments sent Shire 16.25p lower to 514p.Meanwhile, the US broker urged investors to relocate their cash into Galen, off 1p at 779. It calculates that Galen trades at a significant discount to Shire and tipped the Northern Ireland based group to issue a large amount of positive news during the course of 2004.Marks & Spencer put on 4.5p to 277.75p as analysts pointed out that the group is among the cheapest FTSE 100 retailers M&S shares trade at just 10.8 times next year’s earnings Directors certainly seem to view the shares as cheap. Earlier this week both Vittorio Radice and Brian Baldock unveiled sizeable share purchases.Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank was heard urging its clients into the retail sector and was particularly bullish on Next, up 11p to 1,295p, and Signet, 0.5p higher to 100.75p. It believes that the investors have failed to discriminate between retailers as they have rushed to exit the sector following an uninspiring Christmas. This has left most retailers trading on very similar valuations and makes no sense, according to Deutsche, given the impressive growth prospects offered by some.Dealers reported talk of buoyant trading at Carnival, down 6p to 2,453p.

MWB’s office space division is likely to have experienced a strong upturn in demand as the economy has recovered. Although it was loss-making the last time the company announced results, MWB has since moved to close down the unit’s poorly performing European operations, leaving it on course for a return to the black.In the FTSE 100, Shire Pharmaceuticals took a pasting as Citigroup Smith Barney slashed its rating on the stock to an outright “sell” from “hold” and set a price target of just 470p. Meanwhile, the group’s shares trade at a sizeable discount to the company’s net asset value.Analysts, however, were far from convinced by the story. They noted that MWB is heavily exposed to the rented office space market and argued that its shares were merely catching up with those of its rival Regus, which have soared in recent months. Others talked of a management buyout backed by a private equity house The attraction of MWB for any bidder is its rich asset base.

It owns 70 per cent of the Liberty store in Regent Street, London, along with a series of hotels in the capital. As word spread, MWB shares certainly got moving and they finished the day 6.25p higher at 59p.
Active Value holds a 23 per cent stake in the company, and some suggested that a move on the group might well be backed by the activist fund manager. If you believe the latest stock market gossip, Marylebone Warwick Balfour’s days as a listed entity are numbered. According to yesterday’s dealing room talk, a 90p a share bid is being lined up for the property group. They said they did not expect any charges to be brought against Mr Sharon.In a separate case, Mr Sharon is being investigated for alleged involvement in illegal campaign financing.