Shares in Bowleven rose more than 5 per cent yesterday amid renewed bid speculation.

Word was that a number of Asian national oil companies were running the rule over the West Africa-focused oil exploration and production business, up 4¾p to 97¾p.

The AIM-listed group, which has assets in Cameroon and Gabon, agreed a 150p-a-share cash offer believed to be from PTT, the statecontrolled Thai oil group, back in March, but the deal fell through.

D1 Oils rose 0.12p to 5.88p after the biofuels group said it had received a number of preliminary and conditional takeover approaches.

However, Centaur Media fell ¾p to 50½p after Critical Information Group, the industry consolidation vehicle run by former Informa executives, said that it had decided not to make an offer for the publisher of The Lawyer and Marketing Week. Centaur had earlier rejected an indicative proposal from CIC, saying it materially undervalued the company.

Futura Medical lost 1¼p to 35¼p after the pharma group raised £1.46 million in a placing of 4.9 million shares at 30p. It will use the money for working capital and to fund its development projects. Earlier this week, the group said safety approval of its lead product would be delayed.

Dragon Oil slipped another 10p to 429p amid continuing fears its proposed £2.36 billion takeover by Emirates National Oil Company may fail. Several shareholders have rejected the bid, saying that the 455p per share offer undervalues the group’s prospects.

Carluccio’s fell 1p to 84½p after Seymour Pierce downgraded the restaurant chain to “sell” from “buy” saying profits would dip further in 2010.

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