Shares in Silverjet rose ½p to 20¾p after the business-class-only airline disclosed that its flights were 64 per cent full in February, an improvement from earlier months. However, Mike Stoddart, of Daniel Stewart, who believes that the airline will have to issue new shares to raise extra cash, said that lack of data on the amount that each passenger is paying was ominous.

He also noted that management was no longer saying that it was “confident” of achieving its first month of operating profit by the end of March.

William Ransom, Britain’s oldest pharmaceutical company, in the midst of pleading with banks for a loan extension, said that sales had dropped in February after a brief January rise. It was confident that it could agree an extension before the end of March. Investors fretted about how much this would cost and shares fell 3p to 12p.

Renovo fell 68p to 66p after trials showed that Juvista, its antiscar drug, licensed to Shire, had no effect removing scars from breast implants. Renovo said that it would push ahead with clinical trials since a separate trial for surgery scar removal had proved effective.

Gas Turbine Efficiency, which supplies gas turbine cleaning systems, rose 2½p to 44p after it unveiled $6.3 million in new orders in the aviation and industrial sectors, including contracts via its partner Pratt & Whitney.

British Polythene Industries lost 13½p to 263½p after it unveiled a profit fall in 2007 and said that record raw material and energy prices in January and February were squeezing its margins even further.

Huveaux, the publisher of Letts study aids, fell 1¾p to 13¾p after it unveiled a profit collapse. Andrew Perloff, chairman of Panther Securities, the property company, also has 17 per cent of LPA Group, flat at 34½p, and is asking shareholders to vote against reelection of two directors at the company over their pay and low dividends.

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