[Ignitionnet]

Considering the shares hit an all time low this week putting a value on the entire company lower than the price ntl:Telewest paid for Virgin Mobile you'd hope that they'll be picking back up.

The shares have been horribly volatile and lost 84% of their value in the past year before picking up this week and gone as far as 88% below their peak value. They've also had their future prospects downgraded a few times.

They'll definitely go up, however one can't help but feel that if a suitor can obtain the necessary credit VM are very vulnerable to a takeover, especially as they've no real cash or prospect of a share buyback to make themselves more resilient. A cable company passing 12 million homes potentially obtainable for less than £7 billion, including assumed debt? Absolute bargain, especially considering that a sale of the network assets and rental of it back would immediately recover that value back for a purchaser.