Shares in Cape were under pressure yesterday after the energy services group said that takeover talks had ended.
It revealed late last year that it had been approached by a number of private equity houses, but since then the outlook for energy services groups has diminished as potential customers, such as the oil majors, cut capital expenditure.
Despite the blow, the company said that it was confident of its prospects as an independent business and that the first quarter of 2009 had started strongly. The shares fell 4¼p to 31¾p.
Relax Group rose 7½p to 68½p after the debt manager reassured shareholders at its annual meeting that the economic doom and gloom had driven demand for its services and that it was trading at the