The Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar has reportedly acquired a near 4 per cent stake in Woolworths.

Sugar, the millionaire founder of Amstrad computers, is believed to have informed Woolworths of his stakebuilding yesterday, when it topped 3 per cent, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Shares in Woolworths have fallen more than 80 per cent over the past 12 months, on reports that credit insurers were refusing to provide cover for suppliers.

The stakebuilding is evidence of bottom fishing, following weeks of stock market turmoil that has wiped billions of pounds off the value of quoted companies.

Sugar is worth an estimated£830 million and made his original fortune manufacturing affordable home computers in the 1980s.

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