LONDON: Britain’s top share index held onto record high levels on Friday, supported by a sharp rise in British engineering group GKN which said it had rejected an unsolicited offer from rival Melrose.

The FTSE 100 benchmark was up 0.1 per cent at 7,767 points by 0907 GMT, with GKN up by 24 per cent to 416 pence as it said no to Melrose’s 405 pence per share offer and set out plans to split its business in half.

Shares in Melrose were up by about 10 per cent on the news.

Among other shares to rise on Friday, packaging and paper company Mondi was up 1.6 per cent rise after a rating upgrade from Investec.

Meanwhile shares in housebuilder Bovis, which is undergoing a turnaround after seeing off two failed takeover bids last year, rose by 3.9 per cent after saying it was on track to deliver a significant increase in profit in 2018.

“The company points to solid industry fundamentals with strong demand for new homes supported by accommodative financing, government initiatives as well as the well documented shortage of national supply. Long may this continue”, said Accendo Markets analyst Mike van Dulken.

Troubled building and services group Carillion lost about 1 per cent after asking creditors to consider a debt extension or roll-over in financing talks. “We suspect that given its mounting liabilities, recent press comment, growing customer worries and supply chain hesitancy that Carillion will be forced (by the banks) to accelerate its financial restructuring”, Peel Hunt analyst Andrew Nussey said.

Agencies