Market Report: Shares in CSR hit an eight-year high

Shares in CSR hit an eight-year high after Qualcomm’s takeover of the chipmaker was given the green light.

The US semiconductor giant agreed to gobble up the Cambridge-based company, up 27p at 897p, in October for $2.5bn (£1.6bn).

The FTSE 250 group said the deal should complete on 13 August after a couple of court hearings, which are not expected to throw out any surprises.

The New York-listed Qualcomm is looking at breaking itself up after this week’s profit warning, its third this year.

Activist investor Jana Partners called for the company to spin off its chip-making arm, raising questions about its plans for the CSR business.

Dealmaking is ripe in the semiconductor sector, with whispers of a takeover for Imagination Technologies. The company fell 0.75p to 236.25p, while iPhone chipmaker ARM Holdings, whose shares were hit hard earlier in the week as Apple just missed sky-high iPhone sales expectations, sank 14p to 1,001p.

A bad day for mining stocks saw the FTSE 100 crumble 75.2 points to 6,579.81.

Spirits group Diageo, down 47p at 1,860p, is facing a probe in the US. The Securities and Exchange Commission is questioning whether the Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker maker used a tactic called “channel stuffing” – shipping excess stocks to boost results.

The temporary power provider Aggreko, whose shares slumped 175p to a five-year low of 1,255p, dropped its full-year profit target to between £250m and £270m, around 8 per cent lower than analysts had pencilled in.

A slowdown in its US oil and gas division was blamed for its troubles, along with security issues in Yemen.

Aim-listed Gaming Realms, down 5p at 26.25p, joined the gambling sector’s M&A party, snapping up some of Canadian group RealNetworks’ assets for $18m.

Troubled nickel miner Mwana Africa, up 16 per cent at 1.35p, managed to secure the services of Grant Thornton as its new nominated adviser to replace Peel Hunt, which resigned after a board exodus last month, soothing fears its shares would be cancelled under Aim rules.