MusicMagpie confirms early takeover talks with BT, Aurelius

Responding to a media report, it said: "Discussions between the parties are ongoing and remain at a very early stage.

"Accordingly, there can be no certainty that any offer for the company will be made from either of the parties, nor as to the terms of any such offer."

The company, which sells second-hand phones and other tech, advised shareholders to take no action and said a further announcement will be made as appropriate.

Under takeover rules, the two parties have until 1700 GMT on 18 December to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away.

At 0810 GMT, the shares were up 33% at 25p.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "BT and its mobile brand EE deal in large volumes of phones, so having an in-house refurbishment business in the form of MusicMagpie would make sense. It also helps that the latter is going cheap, having been a disaster since it joined the stock market a few years ago.

"Private equity group Aurelius is also in on the ticket to potentially buy MusicMagpie, perhaps interested in taking the retail side of the group which sells goods via its own website and through Ebay and Amazon."