3 FTSE Shares Soaring Higher Today

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By

Alan Oscroft

Published in Investing on 20 June 2012

Aer Lingus (LSE: AERL), Healthcare Locums (LSE: HLO) and Blinkx (LSE: BLNX) all rise on good news.

Optimism from the G20, and hopes that the eurozone leaders are closer to a deal on European borrowing and banking rescues, helped support the FTSE 100 (UKX) this morning, and it hung on to the ground it has gained over the week. By midday the index was looking stable around the 5,595 mark, up just a few points on the day.

Longer-term movements in the FTSE will, of course, depend on how Europe puts its plans in to action, and whether the Spanish banking crisis gets any worse -- but at least for now, Spanish bond yields have dropped back a little, to just under 7%.

However, even with the uncertain economic background, individual shares can still rise following positive news. Here are three names from various FTSE indices that have soared today:

Flying high

The airline that everyone loves to hate, Ryanair Holdings (LSE: RYA), was in the news today, as it is responsible for pushing up shares in Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus (LSE: AERL). How so? Well, it's all due to a takeover attempt, after Aer Lingus announced this morning that Ryanair intends to make a third offer for 100% of its share capital.

Aer Lingus shareholders were urged to do nothing at this point, but with the share price gaining a nice 13% boost to €1.05, there are clearly a lot of people expecting the bid to succeed. Ryanair shares, meanwhile, gained just 2 cents to €4.

Respite for Healthcare Locums

Healthcare Locums (LSE: HLO), which last year uncovered accounting irregularities in its books and was forced to add up all the sums again, has been facing legal action in the USA, brought by a number of American funds against the company and three of its directors.

But today we learned that the action is to be dropped by the plaintiffs, with no explanation for their change of heart given. The ending of the action, described by Healthcare Locums chairman Peter Sullivan as an "unwelcome distraction", gave the shares an early 20% boost, but the price has since dropped back to 3.75p for an 11% rise on the day.

Video success

Blinkx (LSE: BLNX) is an interesting little company. It has developed what people generally consider to be very smart video search software, and with the web being full of video content these days, there's clearly a market for it. Blinkx's technology is licensed from search wizard Autonomy, which was bought by Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ.US) last year.

There was good news today in the from of a new partnership. Blinkx has teamed up with news network Newsy, which provides multi-source, multi-platform video news, with the aim of matching context-sensitive advertising to Newsy's news output. The hard-pressed shares regained 3.5p, for an 8% rise to 41p.

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Please note: An earlier version of this article stated it was "uncertain" whether Blinkx's licensing agreement with Autonomy "would be extended". Please see our apology in the comment section below.

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> Alan Oscroft does not own any shares mentioned in this article.

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Comments

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MotleyMBA 20 Jun 2012 , 1:18pm

Motley - nice piece about Blinkx, but you are underplaying it ! I understand from Blinkx's investor relations chief that Blinks's licence to its IDOL technology from Autonomy is in perpetuity. If in doubt, please check, via Blinkx's "Investors" link, with FTI Consulting, who will be pleased to confirm.

TMFBoing 20 Jun 2012 , 2:25pm

Hi MotleyMBA,

That's interesting to know - thanks!

Foolish best,
Alan Oscroft
TMFBoing

EelTamer 20 Jun 2012 , 2:44pm

Blinkx licence from Autonomy is not at risk, they have it in perpetuity. What may not be renewed is the exclusivity but even if this happens they have several years head start and a growing number of patents which protect the advances they have made. This share has been way oversold and shorted down to become an incredible bargain.

TMFBoing 20 Jun 2012 , 7:45pm

Yes, that does seem to be the case - I suspect there are also worries that there may be no new deals for new Autonomy/HP technology now, but even if that is so the effect could well be overblown.

I confess this is way outside my areas of expertise, but I really can't help feeling the fear has been overdone.

Foolish best,
Alan
TMFBoing

lazyjcb 21 Jun 2012 , 7:31pm

Surely recognition of the IDOL disinformation statement re BLNX should require it to be removed from the offending document. With clear notice given of the action taken and why.
Very sad to discover such a blatant error (shorting encouragement) on TMF.

TMFMayn 22 Jun 2012 , 7:53am

Hello everyone,

A spokesperson for Blinkx has been in contact with Motley Fool, and we are happy to publish the following clarification:

1. As disclosed in the listing prospectus 5 years ago in May 2007, Blinkx was granted a perpetual licence over the Autonomy software. So the licence never comes up for renewal and that agreement is unaffected by the acquisition of Autonomy by HP.

2. Blinkx was granted a 5 year period of exclusivity that ran from the date of listing. It is that element of the agreement that is time sensitive.

3. As you know, HP is a significant shareholder in Blinkx (inherited from Autonomy) and Blinkx and Aurasma (a division of HP Autonomy) have a partnership agreement. So the HP-Blinkx link runs deeper than just the licence agreement.

The company did not seek to extend this period of exclusivity in May 2012. Why? The company has invested around $50m in creating its own IP that forms the foundation of Blinkx’s technological advantage – IDOL is just part of that foundation nowadays. Hence Blinkx did not feel it necessary to extend the exclusivity period on order to maintain its competitive advantage.

The article has been changed accordingly. The Motley Fool apologises for the error.

Foolish Best

Maynard Paton
TMF Editor

EelTamer 22 Jun 2012 , 12:42pm

Thank you for that helpful clarification.

lazyjcb 22 Jun 2012 , 3:54pm

Thank you for your prompt and fullsome reponse.
It might have been significant in a positive sp move today.
It has certainly redressed undermining credibility & integrity of TMF.

MotleyMBA 06 Jul 2012 , 12:13pm

Thanks MotleyF. I also think that the article might help stabilise the price at current dismal levels.

However, if the Board and its advisers thought that Blinkx shares were fairly priced when placing shares with institutions at 130p many months ago, since when presumably the company has made further progress with integrating Burst Media and PVMG, then why has no Director, as far as I can see, bought any shares in the last two years even at, say, less than a third of the placing price - e.g. 43p,?? never mind 35p ?. Are they really a bad investment at 39p ?? if so, WHY ??

But of course, they may be frozen, pending the outcome,possibly of post HP talks about Blinkx's future ??
Intriguing as well as deeply frustrating. I wonder what the PVMG placing era institutions think ? Perhaps they will be at the AGM too...

MotleyMBA

MotleyMBA 07 Jul 2012 , 7:29am

And all of the above is even more curious, when Suranga, CEO, in his 18th May webcast did such a fabulous job of projecting the company's future. It was most inspiring - making the absence of any Director buying quite mystifying - unless for some reason their hands are tied.
At 35-40p, the shares must be an absolute steal ? unless something is wrong with current trading ................

MotleyMBA 20 Jul 2012 , 10:41am

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