Yesterday's London trading

WHEN former Tory Transport Minister Steven Norris was controversially appointed as the £100,000-a-year, two day-a-week interim chairman of

Now look at them. Yesterday they were sold down to a seven-year low of 123p before closing 12p off at 126 1/4p after Panmure downgraded from neutral to sell.

The broker had an axe to grind about a few things, but its main beef was that rail contracts for Jarvis are likely to be delayed for 12 months, which will inevitably lead to pressure on profit margins.

It says Tube Lines, the consortium attempting to run parts of the overstretched London Underground network, is not hitting targets either, exerting further pressure on Jarvis group profitability.

Rumours that a critical BBC TV programme will be shown next Wednesday also had investors running for the exit. Jarvis's reputation has taken such a knock that it has changed its name to Engenta when bidding for any new government contracts.

The Footsie took Abbey National's catastrophic £686m annual loss and an opening 62-point deficit on Wall Street in its stride. It closed 8.4 points up at 4515.9.

Sterling eased further to $1.8646, while the euro slid back to $1.2440 and 66.8p.

Heavy speculative buying on continuing talk of a possible bid from French oil giant Total helped gas explorer and producer BG advance 12 1/2p more to 323 3/4p.

Turnover swelled to almost 42m as dealers again heard that Total will make a move as soon as it can sell its 24% stake in French drugs company Sanofi, which is bidding for Aventis. BG's shareholders are hoping Aventis is swallowed soon.

Buying ahead of next month's preliminary results helped fashion retailer Next rise 29p to 1417p.

Department store House of Fraser in which Icelandic retailer Baugur sits on 10%, firmed 3 1/2p to 105 3/4p on revived takeover rumours.

Internet bank Egg lost 4 1/2p more to 158 1/2p and could have further to fall. The powers that be are adamant that there is now no buyer in sight for Prudential's 79.3% stake and the insurance giant will soon have to say as much.

Investment bank Close Brothers jumped 24 1/2p to a year's peak of 885p. Winterflood Securities, the marketmaking operation that is the jewel in its crown, continues to thrive during the current trading revival in small to mid-cap stocks.

IP21P0, the intellectual property rights group that commercialises university technology, edged up 1 1/2p to 499p. Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping, the former ACTIVEem spin-out company from Southampton University, is to float on Aim. IP2IP0 holds 15.9%.

Evolution, the broker that holds 40.6% of IP2IP0, hardened 1/2p to 136p.

Profit-taking in the wake of interim figures left Invox, the telecoms services company, 27 1/2p lower at 377 1/2p.

Numis said the first half was hit by the postal strike in October and November which affected promotional mail. The second half will be much stronger and it is happy with its full-year pretax profits forecast of £6.8m up from £6m. It had a bumper dividend of 21p.

More than 71m shares in Aim-listed Healthcare Enterprise were traded and the close was 0.16p dearer at 2.14p. Its Ebiox cleansing and decontamination products have been found to be effective against hospital superbugs. Buyers piled in on hearing that an American hospital contract could be on the cards.

Tissue Science Laboratories jumped 26 1/2p to 160p on good results and a placing of 2.1m shares at 120p to raise £2.58m. The medical devices company will use the cash to expand.

Planestation, the former Wiggins property group, gained 1/4p to 3 7/8p. It has signed an agreement with EUjet enabling the Irish airline to use its Kent International Airport Manston as its UK hub for passenger traffic.

AIM-listed Supporta, the former Staffing Ventures recruitment consultancy, is in fine fettle. Its recent £5m acquisition Parys Snowdon, which manages payrolls for one in ten NHS staff and produces well over 1m payslips a year, has bedded down well. A small bolt-on acquisition of an NHS support services company is on the agenda. The shares closed at 40 1/4p and look good value.