Vodafone rallies on 'RARE' Betaville report

Vodafone rallied on Thursday amid takeover speculation.

According to markets blog Betaville, Vodafone continues to be under the spotlight amid talk one of the "predators" circling the telecoms company is based in Europe.

Betaville said people following the situation have heard rumours that news of the disposal of Vodafone's Italian division to Swisscom is a "distraction" to divert attention away from a potential takeover approach for the whole company.

These people said the latest twist in the bid rumour is that one of the companies interested in a combination with Vodafone is based in western Europe, possibly France.

The people added this European company is said to have already appointed corporate finance advisory firms, including one described as over 150 years old, to work on the deal although it's unclear whether the telecoms group has made a formal approach to Vodafone, yet.

Betaville said some people following the situation had heard speculation one of the companies interested in Vodafone was looking at a merger involving stock valuing the London-listed business at between 100p and 105p a share.

Betaville classed the story as 'RARE'. It defines this as market gossip that has been tested with some of its "usually well-informed" sources.

"In fact, Betaville might have spent several days or weeks working on this story," it said in its explanation of 'RARE'.

"However, the rumour hasn't been tested through formal journalistic channels (public relations executives, bankers etc). The scuttlebutt might be complete codswallop - but then again there may be something in it, so it's worth airing on Betaville."

At 1330 GMT, the shares were up 3.7% at 70.79p.

The other two disclaimers on the Betaville website are 'uncooked' and 'well-done'.

'Uncooked' applies market gossip as Betaville receives it.

"This scuttlebutt has just come in and hasn't been checked with all of Betaville's well-informed 'RARE' sources let alone formal journalistic channels (public relations executives, bankers etc)," it explained. "The rumour might be total codswallop, rubbish or nonsense - but then again there may be something in it, so it's worth airing on Betaville."

Meanwhile, 'well-done' was described as market gossip that has been checked with some of Betaville's "TOP" sources. "However, nothing is certain in life, so the rumour might be wide of the mark!"