The former computer group is now a litigation play; it has suspended one US action to concentrate on its claim against US group Seagate.Ask Central, a small restaurant chain, improved 12p to 120p where it sells at more than 60 times last year's earnings. It is within 30p of its level before the asthma setback.Zeneca's upbeat trading statement lifted the shares 11p to 1,377p but Chiroscience, where a pounds 40.3m cash raising exercise is underway, fell 15p to 485p.FirstBus, on its Glasgow buy, advanced 6p to 174p and Eurotunnel, seemingly on French investment support,managed a 6p gain, to 82.5p.Superstores continued to rally following the J Sainsbury performance and oils were helped by the Shell display although British Petroleum bucked the trend, off 6p at 563p.Tullow Oil was unchanged at 90.5p in busy trading on talk of a British Gas strike and Bakyrchik gained 17p to 550p on gold price optimism.Eidos fell a further 15p to 808p on worries about delays over its video telephone and SuperscapeVR gave up 7p to 628p on director selling. Celltech, the drugs group which caused unease by scrapping its asthma drug in February, continued its recent heady run, gaining 25p to 653p. Lucas, with a 260p rumoured bid price, has climbed from 172p in January.The rest of the market was in buoyant form with the FT-SE 100 index going some way towards nullifying the poor start to the month, gaining 26.1 points to 3,754.4.British Gas was the best performing blue chip, scoring a 9p advance to 228p on the appointment of its demerger bosses.Electricities dimmed on the latest Board of Trade U-turn but the English generators, National Power and PowerGen, gained 2p - to 535p and 544p respectively.Hambros, the merchant bank, shaded 2p to 237p although UBS lifted its takeover price from 271p to 303p.After its breathtaking arrival Vanguard Medica held at 628p with a string of delayed trades going through at 620p. T&N, if it could resolve its asbestos difficulties, could also be a partner.GKN eased 4p to 958p and TI 6p to 546p T&N was little changed at 175p.

The negotiations could stretch to a full merger although Varity is too small to mount a bid for Lucas; so the UK group would have to make the running.In the market, however, the talks were seen as an indication Lucas realises it is too small to prosper on the world stage and needs a partner.The French Valeo group could be interested although it is unlikely to be in a position to move until the ownership of a 30 per cent shareholding is resolved. At one time Lucas was seen as a possible buyer.Besides GM, which would have little trouble absorbing Lucas and could regard a takeover as a logical bolt on, the UK groups, GKN and TI Group, are in the frame. UB's shares were soon back to their old crumbly form as trading continued to deteriorate and the rumoured bidder failed to emerge.Earlier this week it became known Lucas was engaged in talks with a US group, Varity Object was to establish a trading pact. Often the company concerned is already in the bid frame.United Biscuits is one which has experienced the Friday ramp. Its shares soared in busy trading as stories swirled a predator was about to swoop.

It is also planning to raise last year's dividend a fifth to 4.8p The risks remain, but the brave should hold on.. In heavy trading Lucas Industries, the aerospace and car components group, motored 11p to 234p as rumours of a takeover bid swirled around the stock market. According to the rumour mill action would occur early next week with GM, the US giant, favourite to strike. Lucas shares have been heavily traded this week, a classic indication that corporate action is suspected.But yesterday's speculation prompted the inevitable question following a Friday run - is it a ramp?So often, as the market winds down for the weekend break, stories of an imminent bid go the rounds. Added to that, Mr Horney's other business dealings have not always met with huge success. Earlier this year, his Regent Corporation house-building group revealed that it had uncovered "significant errors" in its accounts alongside losses and a boardroom clear-out.That said, St James controls a fifth of the luxury hotel market in Barbados, an area in which Forte and Lonrho are interested, and claims asset backing of 132p a share.

The group has been spending aggressively to expand and renovate its hotels, but clearly it could not cope with rate of growth and costs have run wild. Of last year's profits shortfall, only pounds 300,000 related to stock and depreciation.In retrospect, the recent extensive management changes should have rung alarm bells with investors. Instead of the widely expected figure of pounds 3m for the 12 months to last March, the group is now promising "not less than pounds 1.4m", well down even on the pounds 1.92m recorded in 1994-95. Executive chairman Ray Horney, who with his wife controls around 58 per cent of the company, is confident that they now have the problems under control, aided by a new finance director and much stricter financial controls He points out that the underlying picture remains strong. While profits slumped last year, sales were well ahead of budget - outside estimates suggest they could be more than 50 per cent ahead of last year's pounds 10.4m - and occupancy rates are above 90 per cent.The hope is that St James has anticipated the worst in these figures, but doubts inevitably remain. The shares have fallen almost in a straight line since hitting a peak of 151p in August last year and now sit at an all-time low after falling 14p in the wake of yesterday's profits warning. At 100p they are 20p below the level at which they were floated two years ago. St James has revealed that cost over-runs, a stock write-down and the tightening of what has proved an insufficiently conservative depreciation policy will savage profits for last year.