Sema shares leap on takeover rumours

Trading soared on Friday by 37 per cent and the ascent continued throughout Monday. Shares opened at 360p but climbed 7.25 per cent to 362.2 by 15:37 GMT.

According to French daily La Tribune, the two companies are in advanced discussions but Maxime Holt, senior research analyst at Butler Group, claimed the rumour could be engineered to boost share price.

Holt said: "The Sema share price dropped by half last year so this could be a ruse to up the share price. But if it is true then it shows that perhaps Sema has bitten off more than it can chew. It made a lot of acquisitions last year for its outsourcing and data centre departments. Financially the company could be stretched."

Holt questioned the strategic value of the deal for Cap Gemini. "There is some overlap within the two companies and since they both have French input it is hard to see how this would open the market. But Sema is maybe more public sector focused which could be what Cap Gemini is after - this is a notoriously difficult market to get into," she added.

Tony Lock, senior analyst at Bloor Research, agreed: "This would be a very interesting marriage. Sema has had a severe bout of bad publicity regarding its outsourcing contracts and Cap Gemini have got the financial clout to pick them up. They move in very different markets - Sema is ensconced in big corporates and the public sector but Cap Gemini is focused on the financial markets, they would work together with few areas of overlap."

Sema's share price has been plummeting since last summer but stock took a heavy fall in November and has, until now, failed to recover.

Sema and Cap Gemini refused to comment.