LONDON (Brand Republic) – Scoot.com, the online and telephone directory service, has angered investors by allowing them to believe reports it was in takeover talks with Vivendi, which sent its share price soaring.
A report appeared in a UK Sunday newspaper that French media and utilities company Vivendi, which owns a 22.4% stake in the service, was considering a £1.7bn bid for Scoot -- three times its value.
Scoot allowed the speculation to grow through Sunday and Monday while its share price rose 63% to 191p. It finally released an announcement dismissing Vivendi’s approach at 4.08pm on Monday 20 minutes before trading closed. Shares fell back to 152p in the last minutes of trading but remained 20% higher than Friday’s closing price.
Scoot said it needed time to draft a statement that told investors Vivendi would not be taking over the service without ruling out the possibility that the French company might want to increase its stake.
Vivendi, however, is understood to have no immediate plans to increase its stake in the company.