Market report: Thursday close

SHARES of recruitment specialist

The company's market value plunged by a third in after-hours trading yesterday as the shares slumped 28½p to 62½p. It followed a warning - the second in four months - from the group that it will make a loss.

Today, they slumped a further 6½p to a record low of 56p, valuing the company at just £13m. Less than a year ago, its market value was almost £100m.

Numis Securities remains bearish about the outlook. It has downgraded from buy to sell and slashed its 12-month target from 116p to just 45p.

Rival broker Altium Securities has downgraded from reduce to sell and argues the uncertainties over the group's outlook are likely to continue for some time. The worsening debt position is unlikely to sit well with its clients.

Whitehead told the City that profits for the year to 31 March would be £4.5m below brokers' forecasts, which Numis says would imply a loss of £1m. The new management said it had lost business following a decision in November to offer itself up for sale.

It spoke to a number of US rivals but no offer was forthcoming and it was taken off the market the following month.

Anna Mann, who founded the business, left last March and chief executive Stephen Lawrence went in October after a boardroom coup.

Shares generally lost some of their edge after a good few days with blue-chips struggling to hold above 4900.

The FTSE 100 index fell 7.9 points to 4908.3, weighed down by an opening fall for the Dow this afternoon in New York.

Shell came back from a two-and-a-half-year high with a fall of 8¼p to 471¾p following record full-year profits. A little later, a line of 59.5m, worth £280m, went through on the ticker at 472p.

A big seller has been cleared out in Biotrace International, up 11p at 99½p. Broker to the company Evolution Beeson Gregory handled the sale of 3.12m shares at 90p. A line of 3.58m later went through at the same level.

Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata fell 8½p to 1,004p after making an increased all-cash offer for Australia's WMC Resources valuing it at A$8.4bn (£3.4bn). WMC is continuing to look at all options. Rival Rio Tinto, down 30p at 1,655p, refused to be drawn on the subject of making an offer of its own.

Spread bookie IFX fell 6½p to 118½p as it revealed bid talks had ended after just three days. The terms of the offer had been pitched at a small discount to the ruling market price. Steelmaker Corus was steady at 55½p as almost 100m shares changed hands in the first hour of trading. A line of 10m went through at 56p.

US investment bank JP Morgan has repeated its overweight recommendation in BSkyB. Rival broker Morgan Stanley is positive and has set a target of 610p while Barclays Stockbrokers rates the shares a buy with its sights set on 670p. The shares firmed 1p to 576p.

On Aim, Internet Music & Media returned from suspension off 8p at 45p. The company has called for an EGM to approve the acquisition of Timestrip.

Also on Aim, Polaron rose 8p to 193½p after selling part of its pressure-sensing business for £1.3m - not a bad return seeing it paid only £250,000 in the first place.