But the pair’s demise did not stop the FTSE 100 from rising 21.67 points to 6118.76, boosted by the mining sector.
Severn Trent, which was up 4p at 2140p, and United Utilities, 3p firmer at 928.5p, revealed a joint venture to merge their non-household water and wastewater retail businesses before the sector is opened up to competition next year.
Rotork stormed to the top of the FTSE 250 leaderboard, 24.8p higher to 184.3p, as the under-pressure valve maker’s annual results provided no real shocks for investors as revenues and profits fell as analysts had expected.
Moneysupermarket.com, whose “Epic Strut” commercial was the most-complained about ad on TV last year, crept up 1p to 339.2p as the price-comparison site’s full-year numbers were slightly ahead of forecasts, while serviced-office group Regus improved 5.2p at 294.7p as annual, pre-tax profits soared 67% to £145.7 million.
Cause for concern: Moneysupermarket's "Epic Strut" ad (Picture: YouTube)
YouTube
Troubled Toronto-based stockbroker Canaccord Genuity — which last month revealed the worst quarterly loss in its history, another round of jobs cuts and suspended the dividend — said it planned to delist from the LSE to save costs. The shares fell 25p to 170p.
Over on AIM, Brits snapping up Marc Jacobs and Christian Louboutin goods on the cheap helped nudge up sales at MySale, the “flash-sale” etailer backed by retail tycoons Mike Ashley and Philip Green.
First-half revenues grew just 4% to A$128.2 million (£65.5 million), but the company, which generates most of its sales from Australia, New Zealand and South-east Asia, trimmed pre-tax losses to A$500,000, lifting the shares 0.55p to 44.55p.
