Equity markets weakened further with the confirmation that an additional four European and US banks had been either rescued or nationalised. And global markets were sent into a downward spiral when the House of Representatives rejected the US government's $700bn bail-out of Wall Street banks.

As the week progressed, equity markets remained under significant pressure, which led to a rise in government bonds as investors sought "safe havens" for their cash.

Redhall Group, the Wakefield-based specialist engineering support services group announced that it had agreed a cash offer to buy Chieftain Group for £18.6m.

Redhall confirmed that it would part-finance the deal by raising £20m through a placement of 8.2m shares, at 245p each, an eight per cent discount to the previous day's closing price.

Spice, the provider of outsourced infrastructure support services to the utilities sector, informed the market that its distribution division had completed the £450,000 acquisition of Mono Services Ltd, from Mavinwood plc. Mono Services provides responsive and planned maintenance services to registered social landlords, local housing associations and local authorities.

Spice's chief executive officer, Simon Rigby, said the acquisition would provide benefits with existing Spice businesses and, as a result, create the opportunity for efficiency gains and growth opportunities to the group.

Proactis, whose principal activity is developing and selling business software, released its preliminary results for the full year to July 31. The Wetherby-based company said that non-recurring expenses had offset a 23 per cent rise in revenue and, as a result, the group had posted a pre-tax loss of £528,000, compared to the £1.09m profit achieved the previous year.

Animalcare Group, the supplier of medicines to the animal veterinary and livestock markets, announced a 41 per cent jump in revenue for the year ended June 30.

In a transitional year, in which the Ripon-based group transferred its primary focus from farm animals to the more profitable and fast-growing pet market, the increase in revenue was successfully converted into a pre-tax profit £1.11m, almost three times higher than the £300,000 reported a year earlier.

In its latest trading update, the Aberforth-based construction company, Renew Holdings, said that the group had continued to trade satisfactorily during the second half of the financial year and expected to report profits in line with market expectation for the full year to September 30. The company confirmed that conditions in the house-building market had deteriorated.