BUSINESS

Shares in Mouchel were soaring on the FTSE All Share in morning trading after the outsourcing firm rejected a takeover offer from construction company Costain.

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading despite signs that the economy is not as strong as previously believed.

Shares in Northern Foods were up on the FTSE All Share in morning trading after the company confirmed that Boparan Holdings Limited is considering taking it over.

The Coalition's Business Secretary, Vincent Cable, has come under serious criticism after it emerged that he told undercover reporters that he had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch.

Shares in AstraZeneca were up on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading after the drug-maker said it had ceased the development of motavizumab for the prophylaxis of serious respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease.

Shares in BskyB were down on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading after the European Commission approved News Corporation's proposed takeover of BskyB.

Shares in Alexon plunged on the FTSE Fledgling in morning trading after the womenswear retailer said that its sales had been severely hit by the recent heavy snowfall.

Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading following what appeared to be positive comments on the euro by the vice premier of China.

Shares in easyJet were up slightly on the FTSE 250 in morning trading after the budget airline said last night that it was taking extra measures to allow its customers to get to their destinations in time for Christmas.

Royal Mail has said it will be delivering 14,000 items to around two million homes with evening deliveries for the last four days before Christmas Eve.

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading following on from Friday's downgrade of Ireland's credit rating.

Shares in National Express were up on the FTSE 250 in afternoon trading after the transport group said it expected full year pre-tax profit for 2010 to be "a little above current market expectations".

Shares in Goals Soccer Centres were up on the FTSE AIM All Share after the company yesterday said its trading had been good until the recent outbreak of snow across the country.

Shares in British banks were down on FTSE 100 in morning trading following the downgrade of Ireland's credit rating by Moody's ratings agency.

Shares in Laura Ashley were flat on the FTSE All Share in morning trading after the retailer said yesterday that it was confident of its full year trading, despite poor weather and continued economic uncertainty.

Shares in BP were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the U.S. government filed a lawsuit against the energy giant for breaches of the Clean Water Act following the oil spill earlier this year.

Shares in Young & Co were flat on the FTSE AIM 100 after the brewery said it had acquired Geronimo Inns for £60 million.

Shares in BHP Billiton were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading following the news yesterday that it had appointed former Labour minister Baroness Shriti Vadera as a non-executive Director.

Shares in Carpetright were down on the FTSE 250 in morning trading after the retailer reported a fall in revenue and profits in the half year ended 30 October.

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading ahead of a statement due out from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Shares in Whitbread were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading despite the company reporting "impressive growth" in the third quarter ended 2 December.

Royal Mail has said that it has invested £20 million to deal with what it called "the most severe weather in 30 years", with extra resources being diverted to the North East, the Midlands and Scotland.

Shares in De La Rue were down on the FTSE 250 in afternoon trading following the bank note printer's appointment of Tim Cobbold as Chief Executive.

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading, although Lloyds Banking Group saw its shares decline after a former Financial Services minister called on the bank to be broken up.

Shares in Weir Group were up on the FTSE 100 despite the engineering company saying it had pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching UN sanctions in relation to the Oil for Food programme.

Shares in Rentokil Initial were up on the FTSE 250 in afternoon trading after the company said that the Managing Director of its City Link business had resigned by "mutual agreement".

BAA, the owner of Heathrow and Stanstead airports, said that passenger numbers rose in Britain in the month of November.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after Standard Chartered received a downgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Powerfuel Plc, the owner of Hatfield Colliery and Powerfuel Ltd, has gone into administration, it was announced today.