Sainsbury's shares surge as Quatar bid rumour reappears again

Some excitement in J Sainsbury shares, and not just because of good figures from rival Tesco.

Its shares have jumped 15.5p to 373p, up more than 4%, with traders citing talk of, yes, a bid from Qatar. Fresh from the emirate winning the 2022 World Cup bid, the old rumour of a bid for the supermarket group from the Qataris is doing the rounds again. A price of 450p a share has been mentioned. But caveat emptor. The tale seems to come around every six months or so. Last October Sainsbury shares jumped 20% during the course of a day on the same rumour, and there was a similar spate of speculation in July.

The country's investment authority owns 26% of the supermarket, the legacy of a failed 600p a share offer in 2007 from the Qatari-backed Delta Two.

Source : Guardian.co.uk