YP75: Greek tragedy sees investors pile pressure on government

The Greek equity market also fell heavily with banks the focus of investor selling. Greece's budget deficit currently stands at 267bn, equivalent to nearly 13 per cent of GDP, and the rise in bond yields means any efforts to reduce the debt burden in the bond markets will cost a full 3 per cent more than just six months ago.

Speculation reached fever point on Friday when rumours of an IMF bail-out spread quickly across markets, but it was the eurozone that rode to Greece's rescue over the weekend with the agreement of a e30bn loan at a repayment rate significantly below current market yields.

The ongoing uncertainty led to a mixed week for UK shares and the FTSE 100 ended just 0.5 per cent higher, at 5,770.

Morrison Supermarkets new chief executive, Dalton Philips, hit the headlines this week as it was revealed his first-year renumeration could rise to as much at 6m, should certain share price and performance targets be met.

Mr Philips joined the group last month from Canadian retailer Loblaw and he replaces Marc Bolland, who quit the Bradford company to head retail giant Marks & Spencer.

Straight, the environmental services group, has been awarded a contract to supply plastic "wheelie" bins to two local government consortia. The deal is expected to generate more than 4m in revenues and comes swiftly after an 8m deal, in February, to supply a range of refuse products, including pavement bins, steel-wheeled bins and food-waste caddies.

The company, which generated turnover of 28m last year, recently completed the acquisition of AIM listed Helesi's UK operations and assets in a 1.7m deal.

Trading in the second half of the year at Carclo, which supplies technical plastic components to global markets, was strong, thanks largely to robust profit growth at the Technical Plastics division.

Carclo's medical and optical operations have performed well and have helped offset subdued demand at Carclo's other main division, Precision Products. The company stated it is starting to see signs of an improvement in the general market which could particularly benefit those operations most impacted by the global economic recession. The shares, which reached a 10-year high of 175p in February, ended the week at 140p.

Engineering services group Redhall plc announced a number of new contract wins last week, worth nearly 50m in revenues. The first is a 30m deal to install pipes at a new bio-ethanol plant at Saltend, near Hull. The second major deal is for ongoing work with oil giant Chevron Corporation while the final contract win is a 3m deal for a new boiler park at the Sellafield nuclear site.

David Cadwallader, Assistant Investment Manager at Brewin Dolphin, Leeds