Hot small caps: Protherics soars on bid approaches

LONDON (Reuters) - Following is a roundup of key small cap movers on the London stock market on Thursday.

9:26 BST - Protherics soars on bid approaches

Shares in Protherics PRCS.L soar 25 percent to 48 pence after the biotech company reported after Wednesday's close it had received a number of approaches from potential buyers.

"I would suggest that AstraZeneca (AZN.L) could be one of these parties," says Finncap analyst Keith Redpath. The drugs major is developing Protherics' key product, sepsis treatment CytoFab.

On the question of price, Redpath said: "How much will AstraZeneca pay in order not to pay out more than $1 billion (500 million pounds) in royalties a year?" He has a 100 pence price target on the company, but says the market will doubtless capitulate at a price that undervalues the company.

Protherics declined to comment further on the approaches, and AstraZeneca declined to comment.

9:22 BST - Phoenix IT drops on 'soft' market caution

Shares in Phoenix IT Group (PHIT.L) drop 7 percent to 272 pence after the IT infrastructure support services company warns that some business units will see their markets soften.

There are fewer large deals, some softening in the partner business, and Phoenix flags up a harder economy, but its other divisions are progressing well, Panmure notes. It also says Phoenix shares are "very attractively valued" on a PE basis, which is broadly in line with infrastructure peers, while debt interest cover is also at comfortable levels.