The Anglo File: Investors Find Symbian's No News, Good News

LONDON -- Shares in palm-top maker Psion got a boost Tuesday from apparently solid first-half figures and confirmation that its mobile-phone venture Symbian will be floated, subject to market conditions. On closer examination, the news about Symbian is not all that new and the results are not quite as good.

Despite today's announcement, Psion is not actually bringing forward the flotation of Symbian, a venture with Motorola (MOT Quote), Ericsson (ERICY Quote), Nokia (NOK Quote) and Matsushita (MC Quote) that designs mobile phones based on Psion's EPOC operating system. Instead, the company was merely saying that a flotation is the preferred option.

Nevertheless, Psion's shares rose 14 pence, or 2.1%, to 679 ($10.19). Nokia and Ericsson were also trading strongly in Europe. Midsession, Nokia was up 1.81 euros, or 4.3%, at 43.65 ($39.29), while Ericsson was up 1.50 kronar to 170.00 ($18.48)

In a statement this morning, the company said: "Symbian shareholders have decided to float Symbian -- subject to good progress in the establishment of volume products and to prevailing conditions in financial markets." ...