TechMARK movers: NCC acquisition

Investors were positive about IT assurance provider NCC's purchase of credit card services, auditing and compliance business Meridian Services International. The deal should be earnings enhancing. NCC is paying up to £3m in cash for Meridian, which conducts payment scheme audits and advisory services for card manufacturers. Meridian is certified by Visa and Mastercard. The initial payment is £1.1m with a further £1.9m dependent on performance. Meridian is expected to make profits of more than £600,000 in the year to May 2012. NCC's full year results will be published on 5 July. Shares in drugs developer Antisoma have fallen back following yesterday's news that it has started a phase IIb trial for AS1411, a treatment for patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).The trial is designed to lead to a registration trial for AS1411. there are around 90 patients in the trial and they will be split into three groups. The first receives high-dose cytarabine and the other two receive this drug combined with differing levels of AS1411. FTSE TechMARK - RisersXaar (XAR) 92.50p +9.47%CML Microsystems (CML) 57.50p +5.50%Kofax (KFX) 229.00p +4.57%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 280.00p +2.94%BAE Systems (BA.) 386.20p +2.58%NCC Group (NCC) 385.00p +2.12%Psion (PON) 90.50p +1.97%Consort Medical (CSRT) 370.00p +1.93%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 265.00p +1.92%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,831.00p +1.89%FTSE TechMARK - FallersVectura Group (VEC) 44.50p -7.77%Skyepharma (SKP) 50.00p -6.54%Gresham Computing (GHT) 18.25p -3.95%Fidessa (FDSA) 1,335.00p -3.47%Sepura (SEPU) 45.00p -3.23%Phytopharm (PYM) 10.75p -2.27%Ark Therapeutics (AKT) 11.25p -2.17%Innovation Group (TIG) 12.25p -2.00%KCOM Group (KCOM) 46.75p -1.58%Antisoma (ASM) 32.00p -1.54% Ncc