Glynwed shares rose 11p to 231p, valuing the group at £560m.. Informa Group, the business publisher whose titles include the daily maritime newspaper Lloyds List, yesterday stepped up its presence in the United States market with an agreed £31.5m take-over of MCM Group, an electronic financial news and analysis service. Informa Group, the business publisher whose titles include the daily maritime newspaper Lloyds List, yesterday stepped up its presence in the United States market with an agreed £31.5m take-over of MCM Group, an electronic financial news and analysis service.

02/12 - 03/12 Find Drake Tickets playing in Frank Erwin Center, Galen Center. Drake is playing in Austin, Los Angeles and Lexington. drake tickets

03/12 Capture Elton John Tickets performing in Bank Atlantic Center, Germain Arena. Elton John is performing in Sunrise, Estero and Augusta. elton john tickets

03/12 - 12/12 Buy Wicked Tickets staging in Chrysler Hall, Durham Performing Arts Center. Wicked is staging in Norfolk, Durham and Saint Louis. wicked tickets

MCM offers specialist real time coverage of financial markets delivered electronically to financial institutions around the world. It operates 11 subscription services, bought by around 2,000 financial institutions in 57 countries, covering fixed income, currency and equity markets.Peter Rigby, chairman of Informa, said: "The business is in one of our core markets, providing value added information and analysis to business customers on a subscription basis. We see the financial information business sector as one where there are exciting business opportunities and this acquisition helps increase our presence in this area."In the year to June, MCM made an operating profit of $5.6m (£3.8m) on sales of $45m.

Informa expects to complete the acquisition next month.MCM services are distributed primarily through networks operated by Reuters, Bloomberg and Bridge Telerate. It is also developing internet distribution through a site called eMCMWatch .Headquartered on Wall Street, MCM has branch offices in London, Paris, Toyko, Singapore and Hong Kong.Informa stock yesterday closed up 2.5p at 567.5p.. Brian Winterflood, the head of Winterflood Securities, has convened a meeting of his informal caucus of small company brokers for Thursday to discuss whether to block the appointment of the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange. Brian Winterflood, the head of Winterflood Securities, has convened a meeting of his informal caucus of small company brokers for Thursday to discuss whether to block the appointment of the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange. Mr Winterflood hopes by then that the identity of the candidate, which has been kept closely under wraps, will be known.

Don Cruickshank, the LSE chairman, returned from holiday yesterday and his choice is expected to be rubber-stamped by the LSE board later this week.Mr Winterflood has been angered by how long it has taken to finalise the appointment and the lack of consultation. Whitehead Mann, the City headhunters, were appointed in October, when Gavin Casey, the previous chief executive, was ousted. Mr Winterflood says he is worried about reports that Mr Cruickshank's favoured candidate is an investment banker who has been out of the market on secondment for two years.There have also been suggestions that the candidate is a woman. Mr Winterflood says that it is important that the candidate is an experienced person who can command respect, not someone who has got the job because Mr Cruickshank believes he can control them.Among candidates considered by Mr Cruickshank and his nomination committee but rejected are Hector Sants, head of European equities at DLJ, now part of CSFB, Angela Knight, chief executive of APCIMS, the UK retail stockbroker lobby, Fields Wicker-Miurin, who used to work as an advisor to the LSE, and Matthew Fosh, at Garban-Intercapital, the dealer-broker. Alisdair Haynes, of ITG Europe, the technology group, and David Clementi, were also considered but ruled themselves out.. Shares in under-pressure retailer Marks & Spencer rose today despite the firm reporting poor Christmas sales. Shares in under-pressure retailer Marks & Spencer rose today despite the firm reporting poor Christmas sales. They increased 5 percent despite bosses confirming end-of-year sales in its UK shops fell 5.1 percent in the 16 weeks to January 20The company admitted it had lost touch with its core shopper, even though more people passed through its doors.Chief executive and chairman Luc Vandevelde said the overall appeal of the retailer's adult clothing ranges was "simply not good enough"..