Morrisons (LON:MRW) has been one of the Footsie’s worst performers this year, stung by poor sales and an apparent inability to turn the sinking ship around.
But hopes that it could be put out of its misery propelled the stock this week to the summit of the blue chip index, up 7.7%.
Rumours are swirling about interest from private equity firms across the pond, which could team up to take the supermarket chain out.
Morrisons’ property alone is estimated to be worth just shy of £10bn, which is more than double its current market cap of £4.9bn.
The company is struggling to match industry leaders Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, while also losing customers to bargain grocers such as Lidl and Aldi.
Investors hoping for a new record for the FTSE 100 will have to wait until next week after the blue chip index got into a position to challenge the all-time highs of 1999 only to fall away by Friday.
The index stood at 6,846 at 2.30pm on Friday, having added 32 points over the five days.
Elsewhere this week, airline stocks took a beating, with easyJet (LON:EZJ), Thomson and First Choice group TUI travel (LON:TT.) and British Airways owner IAG (LON:IAG) down 11.9%, 8.5% and 7.8% respectively.
That’s because TUI decided to suspend flights to Mombasa in Kenya after a warning from the Foreign Office over the threat of terrorism in the region.
At least four people are reported to have died in two blasts in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, thought to be linked to the militant Islamist group Al-Shabab.
Earlier in the week, TUI reported a better-than-expected first-half loss in the off-peak holiday season, while easyJet (LON:EZJ) saw its shares slide on signs of slowing growth even as it saw an increase in business passengers.
ITV (LON:ITV) was also on a downer this week as shareholders protested over the broadcaster’s plans to reward chief executive Adam Crozier with a £8.4mln pay packet.
Of the votes cast, 22.5% rejected the remuneration report with a significant numbers of stakeholders refusing to vote.
ITV predicts the World Cup will boost advertising revenues by up to 13% in the current quarter.
It is struggling to stem the decline in viewing numbers as people change their viewing habits to on-demand TV thanks to the emergence of Netflix and other similar services.
BSkyB (LON:BSY) lost 5% as shareholders gave the news it is in talks to buy Sky assets in Germany and Italy the thumbs down.
The move would consolidate Rupert Murdoch’s European pay-TV operations.
AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) and Pfizer bosses faced up to a parliamentary committee over Pfizer’s bid to take control of the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker.
Pressure is rising on PM David Cameron to block the deal as his Swedish counterparts encouraged.
The move is seen by Pfizer as a way of lowering its tax bill.
Shares in the London Stock Exchange (LON:LSE) fell 3.7%. This week, the company confirmed it is in talks with the parent company of Russell Investments about a possible takeover of the asset management and stock index group.
The news emerged before the group announced a 50% rise in annual revenues, boosted by the rise in IPOs.