Shire Plc (LON:SHP) shares gained 123p or 3.4%, trading at 3,724, amid rising speculation that a big may be coming from Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical.
Market talk was boosted by comments from Takeda boss Christophe Weber, who reportedly told analysts that the acquisition of Shire could accelerate his company's transformation and the target's large size would not be an obstacle.
Weatherly International plc (LON:WTI) dropped 19% to 0.6p after Craig Thomas decided to step down as chief executive, effective from July. He is expected to continue at the company in an interim period whilst it looks at potential replacements.
It was a similar story for cyber security specialist ECSC Group Plc (LON:SCSC), down 17% at 83p, on the news that its chief executive Ian Mann has resigned, but, will "remains committed" to the company as a major shareholder and full time employee.
Finance director Stephen Hammell will step up to be the new chief executive, meanwhile, Nigel Payne is stepping down from the executive chairman position.
A few afternoon regulatory announcement sent some small caps moving, quite dramatically.
Restaurant firm Tasty Plc (LON:TAST) gained 26% after the company's joint chief executive bought 311,250 shares, priced at 14p each.
Junior pharma stock hVIVO Plc (LON:HVO), meanwhile, dropped 37% as it detailed share issues to directors Jaime Ellertson and Jim Winschel in relation to previously announced remuneration arrangements.
Kore Potash Plc (LON:KP2) notified investors of transactions by Jonathan Trollip, the stock was up 54% to 16.25p.
Airea Plc (LON:AIEA) shares shot up 30%, to trade at 66p, after the company issued a statement saying that it has not received any approach regarding a possible takeover offer from James Halstead. It added that it has not had any discussions in relation to an offer either.
In a statement, it said: "Airea shareholders are strongly advised to take no action at this stage.
"There can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any firm offer might be made."
Halstead yesterday issued its own statement telling its investors that its board was "at the very early stages of evaluating making an offer for Airea".
Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) shares gained 16%, to 484p, thanks to an apparently reassuring trading update ahead of its full year results, due out in May.
looks like market completely overreacted to Sophos figs out early Feb, today's update much more reassuring
- Neil Wilson (@marketsneil) April 5, 2018Shares in Jubilee Metals Group Plc (LON:JLP) advanced 18%, to 3p, thanks to the reinstatement of the group's Kabwe mining licence in Zambia.
UK bingo hall and casino operator Rank Group Plc (LON:RNK) saw its shares slide around 14% in Thursday's early deals, to trade at 183p, after it revealed a drop in revenue and cautioned over full year profit.
Rank, in a statement, said Mecca Bingo marked a 2% drop in like-for-like revenue in the 13 weeks to April 1, while the Grosvenor Casino brand had seen a 9% drop off (significantly outpacing the 3% decline in the same period a year before).
It cautioned that it expected its venues will continue to be impacted by weaker consumer activity through the remainder of the 2017/18 financial year and into 2018/19 - it now expects full year operating profit to be between ?76mln and ?78mln (City analysts previous expected more than ?81mln).
The profit warning follows last month's news that chief executive Henry Birch had handed in his twelve months' notice to resign in early 2019.
Investors in Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (LON:RBS) were evidently unmoved by Moody's downgrade to certain credit ratings (whilst affirming others), as the British bank's shares were moving with the sector - up 4.1p or 1.59% to 261.6p.
Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LON:RBS) shares rose 1.26% to 65.98p, while Barclays Plc (LON:BARC) added 1.33% to 210.2p.
Shares in telecoms firms Vodafone Plc (LON:VOD) and BT Group plc (LON:BT.A) were on the up, as they both secured bandwidth for '5G' mobile internet services.
Vodafone secured 50 Mhz of spectrum in the Ofcom auction, for a cost of ?378.2mln, whereas BT's EE network landed 40 Mhz at a costs of ?302.6mln. Elsewhere, Hutchinson (parent of the Three brand) won 20 Mhz at ?151.2mln and Telefonica UK (the owner of the O2 network) secured 40 Mhz for ?317.7mln.
Ofcom also sold bandwith at the 2.3Ghz frequency, which is used for 4G mobile internet. In all, the UK regulator auctioned 34 lots and a total of five telecoms operators participated in the process.
"This is good news for everyone who uses their mobile phone to access the internet. As a nation we're using ever more mobile data on smartphones and mobile devices," said Philip Marnick, Ofcom spectrum group director.
"Releasing these airwaves will make it quicker and easier to get online on the move. It will also allow companies to prepare for 5G mobile, paving the way for a range of smart, connected devices."
Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON:JLP) and its partner BMR Group PLC (LON:BMR) have had their licence at the Kabwe project in Zambia restored, paving the way for development work to start. Conditions attached to the licence reinstatement are that construction of the processing plant starts within 3 months, it is commissioned by 30 September and first production is achieved by end 2018.
ANGLE PLC (LON:AGL) said the first patient has been enrolled in a clinical trial to support Federal Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of its Parsortix system. The AIM-listed biopsy company said the patient had been enrolled in its ANG-002 clinical study for metastatic breast cancer, with the company aiming to be the first ever to receive FDA Class II clearance for a product harvesting intact circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from patient blood for analysis.
AdEPT Telecom plc (LON:ADT) said underlying earnings in the financial year just ended will be slightly ahead of market expectations.
88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E, ASX:88E) has informed investors of the death of Paul Basinski, who was the founder of joint venture partner Burgundy Xploration. Basinski was a storied frontier exploration geologist who was credited as one of the first to identify the potential of the Eagle Ford shale play, in Texas, which ultimately became one of the main sources of the US shale boom.
W Resources PLC has raised ?1.5mln, before expenses, via a placing of 300,000,000 ordinary shares at a price of 0.5p each to new and existing shareholders accelerate development on its Portuguese projects. The AIM-listed firm said the placing comes following the US$35mln BlackRock loan deal, announced in February.
ITM Power plc (LON:ITM) has announced the award of a grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) to undertake a multi-MW Power-to-Gas (P2G) feasibility study for the US start, The AIM-listed energy storage and clean fuel company said the study will assess the potential for P2G energy storage and hydrogen fuel for the Massachusetts region in collaboration with Holyoke Gas and Electric (HG&E), a local gas and electricity utility.
Blockchain and ICO consultant Coinsilium Group Limited (LON:COIN) has been signed up to help with Gibraltar-registered virtual healthcare platform TrustedHealth's token sale. TrustedHealth is setting up a network to allow patients to virtual consultations with specialists in diseases such as brain and lung cancer. Payments will be with TDH tokens carried on the Ethereum blockchain.
Live Company Group Plc (LON:LVCG) said a second permanent BRICKLIVE centre, based around fun with LEGO bricks, is to open in China. Brick Live Centre Education Development (Beijing) Limited, a joint venture of which Live Company (LVCG) is a member, has agreed to open a BRICKLIVE centre in Shanghai in the autumn of this year.
Gfinity Plc (LON:GFIN) said it is continuing its relationship with motor racing giant Formula 1 as it announced season two of its F1 esports series.The AIM-listed esports broadcaster said Formula 1 would be events partner for season two of the series, which uses the FIA Formula One World Championship game published by Codemasters, that is due to start on 13 April 2018.
OptiBiotix Health plc (LON:OPTI) has announced three new patent filings to protect the production methods and product application areas arising from its SweetBiotix product development programmes
FairFX Group Plc (LON:FFX) has started to issue its own Mastercard branded cards alongside an online loan service for business customers. The e-bank said having the ability to issue its own cards is cheaper and will enhance its whole product suite.
Hot on the heels of its announcement of contract wins earlier this week, Corero Network Security PLC (LON:CNS) is to raise ?4mln in fresh capital, paving the way for a new ?3mln debt facility to be agreed.
KEFI Minerals plc (LON:KEFI), in its quarterly operations update, told investors that it expects the strong support for the Tulu Kapi gold project will be reinforced by the Kenyan government following the appointment of Dr Abiy Ahmed as the country's new prime minister earlier this week. Abiy Ahmed was previously vice president of the regional government for Oromia, where Tulu Kapi is located.
Savannah Resources Plc (LON:SAV) has revealed what are described as "excellent" results from exploratory drilling at Mina do Barroso lithium project in Portugal. A new area of high grade lithium mineralisation has been discovered at the site. This zone, referred to as 'Grandao Extended' was unearthed through drilling to the west and southwest of the main Grandao deposit.
Harvest Minerals Limited (LON:HMI), the AIM-listed natural fertiliser producer, said a video providing an overview of its Arapua Fertiliser Project, Brazil, and the work currently being conducted on site is now available to view on the company's website.