TAKING STOCK

Southend Property may have struck it rich in Australia. It has 29 million shares in Titan Resources where the price has more than doubled following what appears to be a substantial nickel discovery. The property group's Aussie stake, in the balance sheet at pounds 2m, is now worth pounds 12m. Southend's shares were valued at 71.5p in January when British Land, NM Rothschild and new chairman Graeme Jackson moved in. The Barclay brothers are also shareholders. There are worries its 92p a share asset valuation, which was current at the time of the Jackson deal, will be pulled back although Titan is now worth 10p a share. The shares rose 2p to 42p.

rJust, a character merchandiser, moved from Ofex to AIM, gaining 1p to 4.5p in the process.