Eckoh says has received takeover approaches
LONDON (Reuters) - British speech software firm Eckoh Plc (ECK.L) said on Friday it was in early stage takeover talks, sending its shares up 12 percent.
The company, embroiled in the controversy surrounding premium rate phone lines to television programs, said in a statement it had received approaches from more than one party about a takeover, and was in discussions with one of them.
A source close to the firm said the talks were with a publicly listed British firm, but declined to comment on whether the offer would be made in cash or shares.
Eckoh shares were up 12 percent at 7 pence by 0600 EST, valuing it at 14.2 million pounds ($28.16 million).
The company provided the software behind the 'You Say We Pay' quiz on Channel 4's Richard & Judy show, which breached rules for phone-in competitions earlier this year.
Media regulator Ofcom ruled on Thursday that callers were urged to ring the premium rate number to take part in the competition, even after a finalist had been chosen.
They stood no chance of being selected and wasted their call, which cost one pound. The regulator fined Channel 4 1.5 million pounds for the breach, which also included a similar offence on Noel Edmonds' game show 'Deal or No Deal'.
Eckoh suffered a slump in revenues from the phone-in division, and is now focusing on its speech solutions arm -- a translating business.
It posted half year revenues down 60 percent at 18 million pounds on Monday, while slumping to a pretax loss of 0.77 million pounds.
(Reporting by John Bowker; Editing by David Cowell)
