Staff at satellite communications company Inmarsat work in front of a screen showing subscribers using their service throughout the world, at their headquarters in London March 25, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Winning/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Inmarsat shares spiked on Thursday afternoon after a report by CTFN M&A news website said U.S. satellite group EchoStar was expected to renew its interest in the company “very soon”, and no later than the next six months.

Shares in the British satellite communications company jumped as much as 9.8 percent before falling back to trade up 6 percent by 1530 GMT.

EchoStar dropped a $3.2 billion takeover approach for Inmarsat in July 2018 after failing to persuade it into talks.

Inmarsat and EchoStar were not immediately available for comment on the report.