Market Report: Pressure mounts on InternetQ as shares crash

Pressure mounted on InternetQ as shares in the Greek mobile marketing and music streaming company crashed following allegations about its business.

The small-cap investor site Shareprophets.com highlighted what it saw as red flags in the AIM-listed business, implying similarities with Globo, the Greek software firm that admitted fraud October after a short-selling attack.

InternetQ refuted the allegations, citing “factual inaccuracies”, but its statement did little to reassure investors as the shares finished down 79.5p, or 59 per cent, at 54.25p.

Mystery surrounds the identities of the three customers that made up 60 per cent of revenues last and a similar chunk of sales in the previous four years. The company said confidentiality agreements mean it cannot reveal their identities.

In the wider market, a less ambitious stimulus plan than expected from the ECB pummelled the FTSE 100, which closed 145.93 points, or 2.3 per cent, lower at 6,275 – the index’s biggest fall since the infamous Glencore rout at the end of September. There were only a handful of blue-chip stocks in the green, including upmarket housebuilder Berkeley Group, up 41p at 3,352p before Friday’s first-half results.

The more UK-focused FTSE 250 mid-cap index showed greater resilience, retreating 162.05 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 17,391.87.

Goldman Sachs’s health check on the online fashion retail industry made for grim reading at the department store chain Debenhams, which slumped 5.75p to 79.65p as the heavyweight broker downgraded it to “sell” along with Primark’s parent Associated British Foods, down 121p at 3,478p.

Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct, still a “buy” in the broker’s books, dropped 40p to 697p as Goldman Sachs reined in its target price to 850p.

Elsewhere, the online security firm Defenx took advantage of the hype surrounding the sector in the wake of a string of high-profile hacks to float on AIM, raising £2.1m.

However, at 148p a share – a high price for a company with a market capitalisation of just £9m – its shares are likely to be thinly traded. It fell 5p on its debut to 143p.