John Menzies said yesterday that it, too, was suffering the ills affecting so many in the sickly aviation industry, revealing that profits in its airport ground handling and cargo unit would be hit by the slowdown in passenger air traffic and weaker cargo volumes.

The company said that, since reporting interim results in August, deteriorating trading and continued uncertainty made it unlikely that it would meet market expectations for its full year. Management expects earnings at its aviation division to be between £14 million and £16 million, compared with broker forecasts of £21 million. However, it assured investors that its newspaper distribution business was trading in line with expectations.

William Thomson, the chairman, said that, although the aviation business was suffering market turbulence, he was confident in the unit – and in the group’s longer-term prospects. The shares fell more than 15 per cent, closing down 40¾p at 229¼p.

Regal Petroleum soared more than 50 per cent amid reports that the Ukraine-focused oil group had received an approach from Royal Dutch Shell. Regal, which has admitted to approaches on acquiring assets or a stake, denied the speculation, but that did not stop market chatter, with Lukoil, of Russia, also said to be interested. The shares rose 42p to 125p.

Georgica fell 2½p to 29½p after Seymour Pierce, the broker, said that the prospect of a bid materialising for Britain’s largest tenpin bowling operator, which said in July that it was in takeover talks with an unnamed party, was unlikely.

Freshwater fell 9p to 50p after the marketing group said that annual profits would be below market expectations because of lower revenue from the consumer and housing segments.

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