Swedes swoop on EcoSecurities

Peter Stiff: Smaller companies

Shares in EcoSecurities rose by nearly 5 per cent yesterday after a Swedish company entered the international bidding war for the carbon credits group.
Tricorona, Eco’s Scandinavian rival, revealed that it was considering a bid only a week after the British company rejected an improved 77p-a-share indication from Guanabara, a Dutch company backed by BTG, the Brazilian investment group, and chaired by Pedro Moura Costa, one of Eco’s founders.
EDF Trading, a unit of the French utilities group, recently indicated an interest in Eco, which sources green projects, develops them so that they are eligible for carbon credits and sells them on. However, EDF dropped its interest in Eco and agreed to buy credits from Guanabara, should its bid be successful. Eco’s shares rose 4p to 88p.
Evolve Capital, the investment group that recently took a majority stake in Astaire, the small-cap broker formerly known as Blue Oar, moved to consolidate the sector further. The group, unchanged at 4½p, is buying Whim Gully Capital, which is controlled by Edward Vandyk and Oliver Vaughan, who lead Evolve. The deal is conditional on WGC’s acquisition of St Helen’s Capital, another AIM and Plus-focused broker.
Speedy Hire rose 1¾p to 30p after the tool hire group signed a deal to provide construction equipment to Carillion in the Middle East. An update on trading in the UK, with first-quarter revenue down by 30 per cent, was no worse than feared and many in the City believe that the group is past the worst.
Shares in Aukett Fitzroy Robinson fell 0.80p to 3.70p after the architect that said the suspension of work on the Moscow River project in Russia would significantly hit full-year results.