The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers among London Main Market small-caps on Thursday.
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SMALL-CAP - WINNERS
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Restaurant Group PLC, up 1.9% at 67.77 pence, 12-month range 25.06p-68.79p. Restaurant Group confirms that it has received a diligence request from the PizzaExpress owner, Wheel Topco. On Wednesday, Sky News reported that the restaurant chain is at the preliminary stages of evaluating whether to make a rival offer for Restaurant Group, which this month agreed to be bought by Apollo Global Management for just over £500 million. The owner of Wagamama now says that Wheel Topco is evaluating a possible offer for the company. ‘No written or verbal indicative proposal relating to a possible offer, including as to terms, price or form of consideration, has been made to the board of TRG by Wheel Topco,’ it adds. Restaurant Group says that if an offer is made then it will carefully consider its terms, but it noted that there is no certainty that an offer will be made for the company.
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SMALL-CAP - LOSERS
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Manchester & London Investment Trust PLC, down 6.1% at 413.30p, 12-month range 318.00p-493.45p. The investor sheds some gains made so far this year. In the year-to-date, the stock is up 22% and over the past 12-months, shares have risen by 16%.
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Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, down 1.7% at 397.02p, 12-month range 365.00p-492.50p. The London-based publisher falls despite some good interim results. It reports that revenue in the six months ended August 31 rose 11% to £136.7 million from £122.9 million a year earlier. Pretax profit was up to £14.0 million from £12.9 million. On the back of the results, Bloomsbury lifts its interim dividend to 3.70p per share from 1.41p.
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By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter
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