Many in the Square Mile have been cursing their luck recently, but not Penna, the human resources consultancy.

The company stands to benefit when times get hard for others. Its shares soared 27 per cent yesterday after it said that income from its career transition business, which supports workers made redundant, was more than 20 per cent higher than in the first half of last year. Many of its clients are in the midst of reorganisations, and it expects the division to be busy for three to four years.

Overall, the group said that it was performing substantially ahead of expectations, with net revenue 25 per cent ahead of last year and pretax profits earned in the first six months likely to be higher than last year’s annual figures. Subsequently, Penna believes that it will materially exceed market expectations for the full year. The shares rose 32½p to 155p.

Playtech, the online gaming software group, fell 1p to 463p despite talk that it is in advanced talks to provide William Hill with its online casino and poker software. Last year William Hill, up 13p to 246¼p, abandoned plans to develop its own software in-house. The deal will be a big breakthrough for Playtech, which so far has won several deals with betting firms in Italy, including Gala Coral’s Italian arm, but has only a small presence in the UK.

The battle for TanzaniteOne, up ½p to 47p, intensified, as Gemfields, flat at 26p, which made a £33 million bid this month, released an open letter raising concerns about a recent acquisition. Tanzanite rebuffed its claims.

Collins Stewart fell 9¾p to 59p after the broker said that an approach revealed last month, rumoured to be from Nomura, had been withdrawn.

Explore Markets

• United States

• Europe

• Japan

• China

• Russia

• The Gulf

• India

• Africa

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive