Shareholders had better not be too picky, though. Acromas is also looking at US-listed Allied Healthcare as part of its plans to consolidate the domiciliary care and healthcare staffing market.
Indeed, The Sunday Telegraph revealed that Acromas has been holding tentative negotiations with Allied Healthcare after it appointed advisers from US investment bank Oppenheimer to look at "strategic options" for the group. Sources, though, cautioned that Acromas has yet to make a formal offer for Allied Healthcare.
Overall, the FTSE 100 jumped by 79.79 points to 5635.76 and the FTSE 250 surged by 118.15 points to 10681.96.
Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index, said: "Better-than-expected service sector data out of the UK and eurozone helped indices across Europe. News that the Bank of Japan may expand the size of funds its uses to buy assets and stimulate its economy is also boosting stock demand."
British Airways climbed to the top of the blue-chip leaderboard after better-than-expected traffic figures. The airline's shares surged 15½ to 254.6p after it revealed a 1.3pc increase in revenue passenger kilometres for September, helped by an increase in first and business-class travel. The rise is the biggest gain since August 2008, the month before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Citigroup upgraded technology group Invensys to "buy", which helped the shares gain 9.2 to 307.2p. Mark Fielding, an analyst at Citigroup, said: "Concerns over its late cycle nature and the risks to growth in rail have weighed on the shares over the last year. However, our analysis suggests continued growth... at rail. When this is combined with recovery continuing across the rest of the portfolio we see renewed attractions in the share."
InterContinental Hotels Group advanced 19p to £11.46 as JP Morgan Cazenove gave the stock a push on valuation grounds. Tim Barrett, an analyst at JP Morgan Cazenove, said: "The outlook for 2011 is favourable and likely to be an increasing focus for investors after Marriott and Starwood publish 2011 guidance with their third-quarter results. We believe low supply growth in 2011 is likely to support [revenue per available room] growth of between 5pc and 8pc in 2011."
BT Group put on 2.7 to 148½p amid talk Ofcom will this week announce a decision on superfast broadband that is likely to be favourable to the telecoms company.
Tui Travel rallied 9.1 to 225.9p after it said in a trading update that it had a good summer and bookings were picking up. Elsewhere in the sector, rival Thomas Cook increased 6.7 to 179¾p.
Hedge fund group Man Group perked up 9½ to 227.1p after it said its Athena Guaranteed Futures rose 0.55pc last month and had risen 10.5pc over the past 12 months.
Gold mining stocks were in vogue as the price of the precious metal flirted with a fresh high. Randgold Resources climbed 195p to £66.55.
Rising risk appetite gave base metal mining companies and banking stocks a lift. Anglo American put on 103½p to £26.41 and Barclays edged up 9 to 308.8p.
Aviva advanced 3.4 to 396.2p despite the fact that Bank of America Merrill Lynch argued that the latest "bid" related spike in the transport group's shares will unwind as the likelihood of any corporate activity lessens.
On a less positive tack, Inmarsat fell 26 to 629p. After the market closed yesterday, Harbinger Capital confirmed it had sold 65m shares - about 14pc of the company – at 630p a share in a move that raised £410m. The share sale was larger than expected and triggered speculation Harbinger could sell the rest of the its holding once the 180-day lock-up expires.
Among the smaller companies, Computacentre jumped 22.9 to 322.9p as Investec upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold". "We believe earnings quality has improved through operational efficiencies, managed services traction and cost savings. The outlook suggests a continuation of these trends, reasonable revenue progress and modest forecast momentum," said Julian Yates, an analyst at Investec.
"Buy" advice from Barclays Capital lifted Carphone Warehouse 3¼ to 266p. Karen Howland, an analyst at Barclays Capital, said: "We expect Carphone Warehouse to report another set of strong figures during its second-quarter results on November."
Homeserve also rallied 17.1 to 459.1p after Credit Suisse took up coverage with an "outperform" rating and a 720p price target. Analysts at Credit Suisse said: "HomeServe offers one of the most compelling combinations of growth, profitability and value in Europe."
Weir Group put on 33p to £14.86 as Bank of America Merrill Lynch argued it is likely to offer "superior growth" in an economic cycle that is "settling down".
However, oil services company Wood Group slipped 3.3 to 424.6p as Morgan Stanley downgraded it to "equalweight". "The recovery we identified in engineering as the key 'swing factor' for its earnings recovery in 2011 is being priced in," said Martjin Rats, an analyst at Morgan Stanley.
Vallar, Nat Rothchild's investment vehicle, is still trading below its issue price of £10.00 a share. When Vallar floated in July, investors had high hopes for the financier's plans to consolidate some of the mining sector. However, Vallar, up 15 to 920p, has failed to carry out a transaction since its float and some investors are preparing to kick up a fuss if the shares fail to move higher.
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