At first glance AstraZeneca's (AZN) $39.4 billion takeover offer for immunology and rare diseases specialist Alexion looks to be opportunistic and financially sound, but investors initially marked its shares down by 6%.There are a couple of reasons for the negative reaction; firstly, investors have questioned why AstraZeneca needs to go down the mergers and acquisition route when it already boasts

FTSE 100 biopharmaceutical company Shire (SHP) has been fighting negative investor sentiment for more than a year amid concerns over debt pressures and competitive threats.The decision to potentially spin off part of its business hasn't helped to reverse the negative share price trend, down 36% to £34.02 since October 2016. So what's going on?The loss of investor confidence can be traced back to

Shares in FTSE 100 firm Shire (SHP) enjoyed a 4% rally yesterday afternoon (19 Dec) on speculation it was a takeover target. However, not everyone is convinced. According to media reports, several big pharma firms are rumoured to be considering a bid for Shire. Investors should note this is not the first time the company has been a target as AbbVie made a £32bn approach three years ago which was

Things are looking up for medical diagnostics specialist EKF Diagnostics (EKF:AIM) as its latest trading update (6 Jul) triggered a round of earnings upgrades, putting the spotlight on strong sales and profit growth potential over the next few years.N+1 Singer analyst Chris Glasper upgraded earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) forecasts by 10% to £9.6m for 2018. H

Might the software ranks of the UK's blue-chip index be about to double? It's a long shot, granted, but there appears to be an increasingly likelihood that former UK midcap banking software supplier Misys could be set for a return to the stock market more than four years after it fell into the hands of private equity firm Vista in a rough $1.3 billion deal.The mooted $5 billion (£3.75 billion) pr

Niche drugs are big business. Treatments listed as orphan drugs - those targeting conditions with less than 200,000 sufferers - are expected to record $178 billion of global sales by 2020.This would equate to a compound annual growth rate of 11.7% over five years, according to researcher EvaluatePharma's estimates. Investors should be taking notice.Blockbuster drugs collecting billions of dollars

Consumers are more likely than ever to turn to mobile technology to read a book. Devices such as smartphones, Amazon's (AMZN:NDQ) Kindle, and the Kobo and Nook reading platforms are allowing consumers to access reading material faster and easier. They are also hemolping publishers to expand their digital and web-based services, cut costs by outsourcing more, and explore new revenue streams.But whe

Thomas Cook (TCG) warns of a slow start to its winter booking, triggering a 7% drop in its share price to 144.7p. In contrast, TUI Travel (TT.) advances 2% to 363.4p after increasing full-year underlying operating profit growth guidance. The group is now confident of achieving at least 11% growth on a constant currency basis.Bookmaker Ladbrokes (LAD) falls 9.5% to 170.2p after flagging up further

A list of the firms sitting at the very top of the UK's corporate tree could easily be mistaken for a Who's Who guide to companies based in London. Eight of the ten largest names by market capitalisation in the FTSE 100 are headquartered in the capital. This reflects its status as not only the UK's economic hub but one of the world's financial centres and a home to vibrant capital markets.Leading

By far the smallest of the nine regions covered in our series in terms of quoted company numbers, Wales and Northern Ireland offers exposure to sectors ranging from food production and technology to life sciences, media and insurance. Three small caps in particular have the power to augment both the growth and income portions of your portfolio. They are Cardiff-headquartered cake maker Finsbury Fo

Hubert H. Humphrey should have stuck to politics. In 1967, the then US vice president gave his predictions to The Futurist magazine on how the world will develop by 2000 A.D. It did not go well. The research station on Mars is yet to be built and prime minister David Cameron could only dream of controlling the weather to ensure that voters enjoy a bright summer. It appears that the age of miracles