THE prospects of an EMI-Warner Music tie-up helped to propel the London-based music group to the top of the FTSE 250 risers board, on the back of reports that the two boards could be preparing for merger talks.

EMI shares put on 15¾p to 294p on speculation that senior executives at both EMI and its American rival are preparing for preliminary talks on a possible deal.

If the two groups did enter discussions, it would be the third time that the music group has looked at brokering a deal with another music group.

Plans for a $20 billion mega merger with Time Warner collapsed in 2000 after Mario Monti, then the European Competition Commissioner, blocked the combination.

Three years later it failed to pull off a merger with Warner Music, losing out to an independent consortium on fears that a merger with EMI would cause regulatory problems.

Industry analysts say that the combination could get the go-ahead, after Sony’s merger with BMG.

A combination of EMI and Warner would bolster their position behind their larger rivals Universal and SonyBMG. It would also allow the two groups to combine and sell off their music publishing units. The gain came against a backdrop of a falling market, with the FTSE 250 dipping 1.6 points to 9,949.2.

Abbot Group rose 17p to 340p after the provider of services to companies in the energy sector revealed that it had agreed a £247 million deal to buy Songa Drilling, a Norwegian rival.

Broker optimism helped Wolfson Microelectronics to move higher. The group’s first-quarter results showed a leap in profits, helped by strong demand for Apple’s iPod, but provided a cautious second-quarter outlook. However, analysts said that the second-half of the year would provide strong growth prospects.

Analysts also seemed to be reassured that a recent change in chip supplier for the iPod will not affect Wolfson. Shares in the group, which were trading at 134p 12 months ago, rose 51p to 479p last night.

Autonomy weakened 9¼p to 457p despite a rise in first- quarter profits.

Hunting, the exploration to shipbroking group, put on 11½p to 412½p before its annual meeting tomorrow. Whitbread, which is expected today to report a drop in full-year profits, was down 31p at £11.57.

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