Blackfriar: Curiouser and curiouser grows takeover bid for Spice

This was a level not seen since late 2004, as fears over the utilities support firm's debt and acquisitive strategy came home to roost.

Now, it seems, everybody wants a piece. Shares yesterday surged 11 per cent to 56.75p, and have more than doubled since their March low.

Behind all of this was the curious announcement that private equity firm Cinven approached the Leeds-based group more than three weeks ago with an indicative offer of 56p a share, valuing the company just shy of 200m. Spice's board was quick to boot it into touch, labelling it "opportunistic".

But the timing of the announcement was odd, given that it emerged so long after the event. Cinven said it was in response to a seven per cent swing in Spice's share price on Monday, and the Takeover Panel is understood to have played a part.

But despite this, Arden Partners analyst Geoff Allum said it still isn't really clear why the announcement was made when it was.

The offer predates the disposal of Spice's loss-making gas arm, so the valuation was obviously way out of date.

Might this move compel the board to talk to investors, and prompt other suitors to declare an interest?

Institutions have had their fingers burnt with Spice over the past year or so, and some may be looking for a quick exit.

The market has set a range of 65p to 75p a share for a realistic offer –and shares are climbing rapidly towards that.

New chief executive Martin Towers had a job on his hands when he agreed to lead the company on a debt-cutting, organic growth-focused turnaround.

But Blackfriar believes keeping Spice independent may be Mr Towers' biggest challenge yet.

Hargreaves Services is looking like a good play following the news that three of its divisions have traded ahead of expectations.

The coke works in Monckton is going great guns with a new contract signed with South Africa's Xstrata at favourable prices.

In addition the new renewables venture in Wakefield will kick off in August with four more sites planned in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

In fact, the only spanner in the works is the deep coal mine at Maltby, near Rotherham, which is suffering from equipment problems.

Coal production was 19,000 tonnes less than expected as a result.

As is so often the case with deep mines, the rewards are often outweighed by the problems.

Investors are breathing a sigh of relief that Hargreaves has given up on plans to do a merger deal with Doncaster-based UK Coal.

There are rumours that Hargreaves may still buy one of UK Coal's mines, which include Yorkshire's biggest pit at Kellingley, but Hargreaves should think long and hard before it takes such a risk.

Hargreaves has ambitious plans for expansion in Europe and right now that looks a safer bet than deep mines in the UK.

Before the World Cup kicked off there were hopes that the beleaguered euro nations – Greece, Portugal, Spain – would see their nation's teams soar to new heights in a bid to lift both their country and their economy.

So far that has failed to take place with even the favourites Spain failing to win their first match against little-fancied but financially secure Switzerland.

Meanwhile, we see the likes of financially-sound Germany and The Netherlands storm past their opponents.

As for England, most of us had our heads in our hands when we saw the 1-1 draw against the United States.

But following Spain's match yesterday that really isn't looking so bad.