Shares in Kingston Communications were on the slide this morning after it revealed that talks that could have led to the takeover of the Hull-based telco have collapsed.

In a trading update today, the firm announced that the discussions "relating to an unsolicited potential offer for the company (which kicked off last autumn) have ended because the parties failed to agree on price and structure".

At the same time, the firm warned that the performance of its business-focused Affiniti operation was likely to be below par.

While the number of orders has improved, "revenues and earnings will be below expectations for the second half", it said.

By late morning shares in Kingston were down 10.5 per cent (6.9p) at 60.02p. ®

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