Shares digital

The year end rout of software and IT services firms has left many stocks trading at attractive valuations and Chelford (CHR:AIM) and CODA (CODA:AIM) are the latest two companies to have received preliminary bid approaches as a result.

Shares in supply chain management and commerce systems expert Chelford leapt 21% to 170p. Financial management software specialist CODA jumped 16% to 197p, below the 205p indicative cash approach from Netherlands-based Unit 4 Aggresso.

Both sets of management stressed there is no guarantee of the deals happening, but the announcements follow a trend set by Northgate Information Solutions (NIS), NSB Retail (NSB) and Vega (VEG), which all received approaches before Christmas.

Shares in Anite (AIE) rose 4% to 43.2p in sympathy, as traders speculated the latest round of industry M&A could herald the break-up for the Slough firm’s three-legged structure. Other potential bid candidates to watch include IT consultant SciSys (SSY:AIM), which looks very cheap compared to the price paid by Italy’s Finmeccanica for its one-time suitor Vega, and Civica (CIV:AIM), which has acquisition plans of its own but was on the receiving end of a failed private equity approach last summer.

Shares says:

BUY Anite, Civica, SciSy

by: Russ Mould