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>> The Stock Movers Report, your roundup of

companies making moves in the stock

market, harnessing the power of

Bloomberg data. Well, let's take a look

at some stocks on the move today in

Europe. I'm Steven Carroll and I'm

joined by Bloomberg's breaking news

editor, Louise Moon. Louise, good

morning. Um we're watching the moves

higher in oil prices this morning after

the weekend's developments in the Middle

East. How are the likes of BP fairing

this morning?

>> Yeah, you've got BP Shell both the top

two gainers on the Footsie 100. So both

firmly into the green and leading gains

there and that's also tracking across

Europe as well. So you know the likes of

Total Energies in Paris also up. Um, as

you say, this is after a turbulent

weekend in the Middle East and

essentially casting doubts on the

prospects uh for peace talks. Obviously,

the ceasefire deadline is looming and

there's very differing side uh views

being offered from from both sides. So,

that's causing oil to rise and then of

course uh oil related stocks to track

those rises as well. So oil erasing much

of the declines that we saw on Friday um

and you know reversing that and as as I

say Shell BP uh the top two again is on

the footsie 100 this morning

>> okay in other sectors the owner of

William Hill Evoke could be in takeover

talks tell us more

>> indeed yes they've confirmed they're in

talks to be acquired by a company called

Bal's intralot this is a joint venture

between Bal the US casino operator and

um a Greek firm so that's listed in

Athens, but the majority holder is is

the US company. So they've offered 50p

per share for Aoke. That's about 30%

above its closing price on Friday. It

would value a voke at about 225 million

pounds. So a voke is the owner of

William Hill 888. It used to be called

888. So a big um gambling company here

in the UK. Uh it's been under financial

strain for quite a long time and it's

been exploring a sale since late last

year. So it's it's got a lot of debt. So

on the one hand, it's got a lot of debt

after it acquired William Hill in 2021.

It's then also been hit by a lot of

higher taxes. So of course Rachel Reeves

imposed higher taxes on gambling firms

in the November budget. They came into

effect this month. Um and as a result of

Voke said as a direct result of that, um

it planned to close 200 betting shops

due to those tax hikes. They announced

that last month. So, it's been under a

lot of strain um and now confirmed that

it's in talks um with Bali's Enchelot uh

to be acquired. So, as a result, shares

shot up this morning. Aoke shares shot

up. Um it didn't quite match how much

they've fallen over the past 12 months,

but they did shoot up. Um I mean it and

as I say, yeah, hasn't quite matched

that that falls. And if you look back

even further, they're far off their peak

um in 2021. So still trading um a lot

lower than than historically but shares

up um as a result of that potential deal

coming down the line.

>> Okay. So that's on Evoke. Let's turn

then to Commerce Bank. Uh of course a

lender that's seen quite a lot of

headlines around a a potential takeover

offer. What's the latest this morning?

>> Indeed. Yeah. Some fresh comments from

Uni Credit. So obviously been trying to

to buy Commerce Bank since about

September 2024. um and then recently

presented a 35 billion takeover offer

which is set to kick off this month.

Already uh Commerce Bank's largest

shareholder. They've got a stake of just

under 30% but they essentially have been

stepping up their push um to acquire the

bank. So the CEO there's been some

comments from the CEO saying that

Commerce Bank needs deep changes,

suffers from structural weaknesses, it's

a ongoing story of underperformance and

saying that Commerce Bank hasn't engaged

with it in in what it calls a meaningful

way. um in regards to that um attempt of

of a takeover offer. So, it's being

consistently uh kind of shut down,

rebuffed by Commerce Bank, um the two

banks essentially saying they've got

very different views on on how to go

forward and Commerce Bank's own CEO last

week kind of vowed to to stick with

their own standalone strategy. So, um at

heads uh on this and as I say, there's

been there's been fresh comments from

from Uni Credit this morning. um

Commerce Bank shares rose in Frankfurt

uh compared with declines across the

sector. So potentially those that um

rebuffing is is continuing to be

welcomed. Um so we'll be keeping a close

eye to see to see how that one develops.

>> The Stock Movers Report from Bloomberg

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