Allied London rises as approach is confirmed

SHARES IN Allied London Properties bounded higher yesterday after the group admitted it had received an approach that may lead to an offer.

No details of the possible buyer were given, nor of the level of any bid. The statement was made after ALP's share price had ticked higher in recent days. Yesterday, ALP shares closed up 16p at 125.5p, giving it a market capitalisation of about pounds 88m. Between late October and Tuesday's close, they gained 12 per cent to 109.5p.

The company holds a portfolio of city-centre properties throughout England. It has net assets of about 160p a share. "In boxing terms we are small, but we punch above our weight," Howard Stanton, the ALP chairman, said.

He added that the approach to ALP had not come from Knutsford, the shell company recently bought by Archie Norman, chairman of supermarket group Asda, and three other high-profile businessmen.

In the year to 30 June, ALP reported pre-tax profits of pounds 9.2m, down from the previous year's pounds 16m, a record that was bolstered by exceptional gains.