Speculation mounts over Goldman Sachs offer
Shares in DIY group Kingfisher shot up by more than 5 per cent today amid speculation that the private equity arm of investment bank Goldman Sachs was considering a bid for the company.

The price was pushed up by more than 14p in stock market trading this morning before sliding back slightly this afternoon to 279.75p - an increase of 3.4 per cent - following a newspaper report this morning.

However, Teather & Greenwood analyst Rhys Williams was sceptical of the likely success of any bid for the business, which includes B&Q and French chain Castorama. He said: 'I think that the price is already too high for anyone to realistically be able to make it work.'

The news followed the announcement yesterday by Kingfisher that its pre-tax profit had fallen 11 per cent to£396.6 million for the 12 months to February 3.