The news that Vivendi might be seeking to buy the trio of Sky Europe broadcasters has prompted considerable activity on the London stock market in Sky shares.

Sky’s share price rocketed from Tuesday’s closing price of £10.23 to an April 8th morning ‘high’ of £10.63 (and a new 12-month ‘high’) before slipping back after profit taking to £10.41, and a sales volume of 2.8 shares in the first 2 hours of trading. The 12-month ‘high’ for Sky was previously £10.32.

Joshua Raymond, chief market strategist at CityIndex says: “Considering the handsome sums Sky has paid recently for majority broadcast rights of the Premier League and its move to large scale production television exclusive to the channel, it’s no surprise that Sky simply has to get a grip on its costs. In this sense, a merger between the two firms could well make sense. However, I cannot foresee Rupert Murdoch selling out just yet and this could well be a ploy from Vivendi to sound out shareholder sentiment on the prospect of a deal with Sky or someone else.”

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