Biotrace's management team is believed to have assured the broker that the group is on track to achieve its targets for the full year."Overall we believe that Biotrace is in a strong position to take advantage of the changes occurring within the industrial microbiology market. Numis Securities told its clients to expect more bolt-on acquisitions from Hot in the near future and tipped the group to continue to trade well.The software company Royalblue gained 25p to 477.5p on talk the group has secured a sizeable contract win. Gossips believe the contract is an extension of the company's existing agreement with investment banking giant Merrill Lynch. The online recruitment company Hot Group gained 1.5p to 21p after posting in-line full-year figures and the £4.4m acquisition of International Teacher Networks, a business specialising in the placement of qualified overseas teachers to schools in the UK. The German broker fears that the company continues to suffer from poor sales.HMV was steady at 169p ahead of today's investor site visit to the group's new HMV Waterstones store at the Trafford shopping centre near Manchester. The business should benefit from a strong release pipeline in books, including the recently published memoirs by the former royal butler Paul Burrell.Lower down the pecking order, Netstore ticked 0.75p higher to 37p following the purchase of 100,000 shares at 35p by Paul Barry-Walsh, the software group's chief executive. Johnson Matthey rose 16p to 1,020p after UBS raised its price target citing improving conditions for the group's end markets Sainsbury's was not so lucky.
Its shares dropped 1.75p to 295p as WestLB downgraded the supermarket group to "neutral" from "buy". They believe that if Nokia were to become the dominant player in Symbian it would cause rival shareholders like Ericsson and Samsung to cut back their commitment to the company thereby negatively impacting its potency.Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 index dropped 35.1 points to 4,341.8 on profit taking. Nokia already has a stake in Symbian but the purchase of Psion would enable it to secure a majority shareholding in the company. Symbian's success in the arena of mobile phone software is largely thanks to the backing it gets from its shareholders, which includes Psion, Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung and Siemens.However, it is exactly this fact that is mostly likely to put the kibosh on any bid for Psion from Nokia, according to analysts. If Nokia really is interested in buying Psion it is probably because of Psion's 31 per cent stake in mobile phone software giant Symbian.
Recent results from US group Protein Design Labs indicated that its Crohn's disease product is making good progress towards getting the green light from regulatory authorities.Elsewhere in the FTSE 250, Psion gained 8p to 83.5p amid rumours of a bid from Nokia. It has a major drug, CDP 870 for Crohn's disease, on the verge of Phase III clinical trials and boasts four cancer drugs in Phase I trials.However, analysts are divided on the question of whether Serono has the firepower to complete a bid for the group. At yesterday's close, Celltech was valued at about £1.2bn but a recent analyst report from UBS suggested that any predator might have to pay as much as 600p a share to win the group. At this level the biotech company is valued at over £1.6bn.Celltech shares have risen by 80 per cent since May and seem to be pricing in a flawless launch for CDP 870 The treatment is expected to hit the market in 2006 But analysts warn that competition is not far way. The Geneva-based group needs new products to help it reduce its reliance on the multiple sclerosis drug Rebif, which accounts for almost half its revenues From a distance, Celltech looks like a good fit for Serono.