Shares in Churchill China fell by 18p to 257p after the pottery maker said that demand had weakened in the first quarter of the year and that therefore revenue and profits for the first half would not match the exceptional levels achieved last year.

Luminar Group, the nightclub operator, fell 4p to 297p after it said that some of the leaseholds on the CanDu nightclubs that it sold three years ago could revert to it now that CanDu has been placed in administration. KBC Peel Hunt trimmed its profit forecast estimates for Luminar, while Citi-group kept a “sell” rating.

Land of Leather fell 4¾p to 49¼p after the furniture retailer said that Sleep Depot, which operates 71 concessions within its stores, was to go into administration.

Abacus Group, the distributor of electronic components, rose 9p to 56p after saying that trading in the six months to the end of March was in line with expectations. Its shares have taken a beating since last summer after it took a big writedown on its home-developed IT system and out-sourced it instead.

Cape Diamonds fell 2½p to 9½p after saying that its future as a going concern was heavily dependent on there being no more power cuts or other halts at its plant in South Africa.

Stonemartin, a provider of serviced offices, rose 0.25p to 3.875p after its shares were returned from suspension. It has lost management contracts for three of its four office blocks to Regus, its rival. Monterrico Metals, the Chinese-controlled copper miner in Peru, leapt 32p to 141½p. Last week it said that it knew of no reason for its share-price fall.

Conchango, the business IT consult-ancy, was flat at 16p, but after the market’s close it agreed a £42 million, or 23.1p-a-share, takeover bid from EMC, the New York-listed IT group. Bob Morton, a major shareholder who engineered a reverse takeover in January for £30 million, has agreed the deal.

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