Galapagos pounces on Biofocus

Drug discovery services business Biofocus (BIO) jumped 84 per cent to 113p this week after receiving a generous £22 million all-share offer from Dutch biotech concern Galapagos.

The deal will create a combined group with revenues of £20 million. Galapagos’ chief executive Onno van de Stolpe will lead the company, which will carry out work for a range of larger drug companies looking for pre-clinical drug candidates.

Galapagos, which also has a range of its own potential therapies for bone and joint diseases such as osteoarthritis, joined Euronext in May, raising £16 million. Following the merger, van de Stolpe intends to retain a dual listing for the shares in London.

This deal failed to stop the AIM Index drifting 3.1 points to 1094.2 over the week.

Another rapid riser was Surgical Innovations (SUN), up 43 per cent to 2.5p after unveiling a £800,000 deal with jet-making giant Rolls Royce. The group will adapt its specialist array of instruments for use in keyhole surgery so that they can be used in maintaining Rolls Royce jets whilst they are still fixed to an aircraft’s wing.

On the downside online gaming concern Empire Online (EOL) fell 27 per cent to 186p after Sportingbet (SBT), off 39p at 304.5p, pulled out of takeover talks.

And online marketing services provider Deal Group Media (DGM) plunged 43 per cent to 9.5p after warning that the current year’s pre-tax profit ‘will show no increase on the same period last year and will therefore fall significantly short of market expectations’. This is because one of its major clients has changed its contract with the company.

Results round-up
 
The interim results season continued to spark activity.

Nick Harding, chief executive of adult gaming centre operator Talarius (TLS), unveiled encouraging maiden interims on a pro-forma basis, with turnover up seven per cent to £21.3 million and operating profits lifted six per cent to £2.3 million in the six months to mid-July.

Harding insists the acquisitively ambitious Talarius, which owns 142 high street arcades housing over 7,000 slot machines, should benefit from an industry shake-out spurred by enactment of the Gambling Act.
 
Premium cake and speciality bread maker Finsbury Food (FIF) cooked up strong numbers for the year to June. On a slightly lower turnover of £59.3 million (£59.9 million), pre-tax profits perked up from £200,000 to £1.5 million, as both business arms, Memory Lane Cakes and Nicholas & Harris, had a good year.
 
Shares in electronic security systems provider Quadnetics (QDG) eased 15p to 250p despite making a recommended all-share offer for AIM-rival Protec (PRC), down 12.5 per cent at 5.25p. Made on the basis of one new Quadnetics share for every 43 Protec shares, the deal values Protec at £9.9 million.

Tuna rides the wave

AIM’s two debutantes on Friday closed at decent premiums. Surfing brand manager Hot Tuna (HTT) rode 9p higher to 59p, following a £1.9 million placing sponsored by broker Nabarro Wells.

Headquartered in London, Hot Tuna is one of the world’s longest established surfing lifestyle brands, with board shorts, t-shirts, hats and surf hardware badged with distinctive piranha and bull’s head logos.

Products are sold as far a field as Australia, the UK, North America (where demand is growing), Mexico and Singapore. The float funds will be used to build greater brand recognition and expand the number of global licensees.

Meanwhile University of Leeds spin-out GETECH (GTC), a profitable oil services outfit specialising in the compilation and analysis of gravity and magnetic data, put on 4.5p to close at 43.5p.

Lara Croft creator returns

Finally interactive DVD developer Circle Studio announced plans to raise up to £5 million in a flotation sponsored by broker Daniel Stewart earmarked for October. This will value the company at roughly £20 million.

Circle is led by Jeremy Heath-Smith, who created, prior to its sale to Eidos, Tomb Raider, one of the most successful ever computer games. Stock market veteran Ian Livingstone, who set up Games Workshop and other businesses is chairman.

Circle is working with FIFA to produce a World Cup iDVD next year as well as Virgin / EMI to make a pop trivia quiz for the format based on the ‘Now that’s what I call music’ franchise. Heath-Smith hopes this will treble revenues from the current £3 million level.