WPP and Tempus were both trading up, as WPP posted its third-quarter results today and the Takeover Panel finally revealed that it will not allow the group to get out of its £432m Tempus bid, owing to adverse material changes.
WPP was trading up 3.85% at 580p, having been up by as much as 6% earlier in the day. Tempus was up 3.92% at 530p, moving ever closer to WPP's offer price of 555p.
Lorna Tilbian, media analyst at Numis, said, "The third-quarter figures, which were well-received, and the reassuring outlook for the full year are more important to WPP today than the outcome on Tempus. And anyway, even at this price, Tempus longer term will add value to The Media Edge offering."
Also benefiting from the upbeat mood were Cordiant Communications and Tempus rival Aegis Group, which owns the Carat media-buying group.
Cordiant, parent company of Bates, was up by 7.1%, with shares trading at 83.5p this afternoon. Aegis was up by 3.7%, also trading at 83.5p.
The FTSE 100 index of leading shares was down from yesterday's close of 5167.6. This afternoon, it was 1.7% lower, valued at 5075.3.
Radio group GWR was benefiting from the positive news it received from Rajar today. Its shares leapt 13.2% to 210p, having opened at 185.5p.
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