February 26, 2006	Sunday	Muharram 27, 1427

LONDON, Feb 25: London’s stock market could test 5,900 points for the first time in nearly five years next week with some of Britain’s biggest companies expected to post bumper earnings amid incessant takeover activity.

On Friday, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed at 5,860.50 points, a rise of 0.24 percent or 14.3 points from the previous week.

It was the FTSE’s highest finish since June 11, 2001, the last time the index reached also 5,900 points.

In recent weeks the FTSE 100 has spiked on strong earnings news and talk of possible buy-outs of British blue-chip companies.

“Some will say that, were it not for the takeover bids, the FTSE 100 would be several hundred points lower” currently, said Mike Lenhoff, an analyst for Brewin Dolphin Securities in London.

“Well that may be so but what matters is why there are the bids to begin with. In the UK, the backdrop for corporate activity remains fertile. Rather than being several hundred points lower, the FTSE 100 is more likely to be several hundred points higher” going forward, he added.

Britain’s fifth biggest bank Lloyds TSB, seen by analysts as a possible target for Spanish rival BBVA, said on Friday that its net profit rose by 4.0 per cent to 2.493 billion pounds in 2005.

Investors welcomed the solid results, sending the company’s share price jumping 4.71 per cent to close at 566.50 pence, valuing the company at 31.50 billion pounds.

Another British company to benefit from takeover talk is Centrica. The biggest domestic gas supplier in Britain said Thursday that net profit surged last year by 51.7 per cent to 968.0 million pounds as energy prices soared.—AFP