There seems to be a bit of interference on the line over at Cable & Wireless. The shares have gone nowhere during the stock market rally of the past six months. And on Thursday they fell 6 per cent as C&W warned that the slump in Caribbean tourism had hit its call volumes hard.

The market was also disappointed that while, as expected, it announced that its long-planned demerger was back on, it provided no further details.

This prompted analysts to worry that it had hit a problem, such as concerns among the trustees of the company’s pension fund about the proposed separation of the UK business, which has only just started generating cash. But C&W said that details of the demerger would be revealed by the end of the month.

John Pluthero, the highly regarded and highly rewarded head of the UK business, sought to put another worry to rest by signalling that he would not be leaving after the demerger. And the company is expected to tweak its controversial incentive scheme to encourage him to stay.

So why the sagging share price? Fans insist investors have just got their wires crossed.

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