Heavy trading in Eircom after the report in this newspaper of Vodafone's likely one-for-two share swap for Eircell was the dominant feature of the Irish market yesterday.
With Vodafone's current share price suggesting a value of €2.30 for a demerged Eircell and possibly €1.90 for the rump of Eircom, there was heavy speculative investment in the shares. Eircom closed up 18 cents on €2.77 in turnover of 6.5 million shares.
Datalex's debut was relatively low key with the shares falling back after a bright opening. The Xetra system found difficulty in coping with the volatility of Datalex but the shares did trade up from the €6.84 IPO price to a high of €8.20 before closing on €7.25. Best bids at the close were €7 with stock on offer on €7.25. On Nasdaq, the shares were trading at midday at the IPO price of $11.50 for the American Depository Receipts.
Otherwise Dublin trading was pretty dull. First Active, up two cents on €2.07, announced plans for a share buyback, while Irish Life, down 18 cents on €11.20, disclosed that it bought back almost 265,000 shares on Thursday at €11.30.
Dunloe Ewart was two cents firmer on 48 cents as potential predator Mr Liam Carroll disclosed that his stake in the property group stood at 27.3 per cent. Ryan Hotels gained one cent to €1.13 in unusually heavy turnover of 1.6 million shares.
