Two profit warnings make it a bad day for Lesley Watkins

Outlook

For a director to have one profit warning before Christmas can be seen as a misfortune. To have two in one day looks like carelessness.

That was the fate of Lesley Watkins on Wednesday. The former banker sits on the boards of Game and the troubled stockbroker Panmure Gordon. At one stage, following their respective disastrous announcements, their shares were both down 40 per cent.

Her dual roles are ironic because it is partly because of the poor performance of mid-sized flotations like Game that Panmure and its peers are suffering. Investors are not exactly flocking to brokers to gamble more on such businesses.

Whether the markets for gaming or broking improve or not, Ms Watkins is in for an eventful 2016.