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June proved to be a woeful month for London markets, with the FTSE faltering after the Queen's Golden Jubilee to below the 5,000 level for the first time since the start of October.

With blue-chip bank Abbey National's profits warning leaving its mark, the benchmark did well to close above the 4,500 level. The Small Cap Index resides at just 2,374.4, more than 20 per cent below its level 12 months ago.

Media stocks join the melee

Despite all of this, a number of media stocks flourished in June, with Jazz FM firming 13.5p to 192.5p after the Guardian Media Group raised its cash offer from 180p to 195p, valuing the business at £44.5 million. The shares have since moved up to a 52-week high of 193.5p.

Intellectual property rights owner Sanctuary was sent 0.5p higher to 57.5p on impressive first-half figures. Sales surged 41 per cent to £49.8 million and profits climbed from £2.3 million to £2.9 million. Significantly, 60 per cent of the £14.4 million rise in turnover came from recent acquisition Bravado International, whose clients include rock bands The Who, MC Eminem and The Strokes.

Also in the news was magazine publisher Incisive Media. Its shares were suspended at 93.5p after it admitted it was in 'advanced non-exclusive negotiations' to buy Pearson subsidiary FT Business, whose brands include Investors Chronicle. This bid, however, is rumoured to have since elapsed.

In the support services sector, electronic components distributor Acal eased 3.5p to 589p after enduring a 'very tough' year to March. Profits slipped 26 per cent to £16.6 million on sales of £297 million. Chairman John Curry explained that three of its four businesses actually grew profits. He says the worst of the cycle has passed without the catastrophic results reported by some other companies.

Cheering followers was anti-counterfeiting group Applied Optical Technologies. It moved up 2.5p to 50.5p on news of an order to supply security foil for euro notes. The price has clipped ahead another 2p since.

Shares in Penna Consulting meanwhile perked up 10p to 350p on full-year figures. Although profits at the pre-tax line fell from £7.5 million to £4.4 million, sales ran ahead from £47.9 million to £52.3 million. Investors also warmed to record levels of business at its outplacement division. Chief executive Michael Jolly says: 'In the second half of last year there were 14,300 people being made redundant in the UK every week, which gives you some idea of the scale of the market.'

Easing engineers

Management machinations moved a pair of stocks in the engineering sector. Metal coatings group Frederick Cooper moved up 0.5p to 44.5p on rumours that its management is poised to make a bid at 80p a share. In the first half to January the Solihull-based group turned last year's loss of £2.2 million into a profit before tax of £258,000.

Shares in flow-control product manufacturer FCX International have put on 8p to 270p over the past month, as the battle for control of the company rages on. The management team attempting to buy-out the firm now appears to be in the driving seat, with buy-out vehicle XCF Investments now effectively having control over 39.84 per cent of the shares with its new 280p a share offer. XCF originally offered 260p a share, but this prompted investment boutique JO Hambro to lead a shareholder revolt to block the bid with a tender offer at 275p.

Elsewhere in the old economy haven, precision engineering play Renold reversed 6.5p to 66.5p after reporting underlying profits down two-thirds for the year to March. Headline losses reached £5.6 million, including £3.9 million worth of restructuring and redundancy costs.

Another firm to be hit by turbulence was Firth Rixson. The shares are trading at 18.25p, just off a year's low of 17p, having fallen from a 47.5p summit over the past 52 weeks. The market's perception of the business was not helped by this month's interim figures, which showed a near halving of profits to £3.7 million. The management blamed the impact of 11 September on its key aerospace businesses.

Using no such caveats was UMECO (listed under aerospace and defence), which saw its shares rocket 32.5p higher to 258p. They have since soared to 290p after the firm said it would be extending its relationship with Rolls-Royce and posted resilient full-year figures, despite the effects of the Manhattan mayhem on its core aerospace markets.

Logistics play Wincanton wowed followers with its first preliminary figures following last year's demerger from convenience food group Uniq. The shares chugged ahead 11.5p to 223p on the results, which showed profits up 32 per cent to £30.8 million, although these were admittedly flattered by a pension credit of £4.8 million.

Looking forward

Holiday home-maker Burndene Investments was buoyed 6.5p to 49.5p following excellent interim figures. Pre-tax profits surged from £2.3 million to £4.96 million on a sales leap from £52.1 million to £66.4 million. The leisure-listed company expects the second half of the year to September to be equally emphatic. Its directors say profits for the full year should be 'substantially higher than those secured in 2001', when it made £5.7 million. Savvy punters might like to get in before its figures are released in December.