3i shares fall as activist exits Despite the speculation that Mr Bramson - who staged a boardroom coup at F&C Asset Management in 2011 - would attempt to intervene at 3i, the decision not to pursue an active investment strategy is not unusual. Including 3i, Sherborne has made 11 investments but has been active in only five of those companies. "We will never in all likelihood discover what Mr Bramson had planned for 3i, but whatever it was, his investors should be pleased with the results, which have been achieved without any public sabre rattling," said JPMorgan Cazenove analyst Christopher Brown. For our part, we were mystified what Mr Bramson might have had in mind that would have improved upon current management's strategy. Simon Borrows, who took the helm at 3i in May last year, has carried out his own turnaround programme that identified £51m in savings by the end of March. Like 3i, the broader market was under pressure. Speculation the Bank of England would lift interest rates sooner than expected, in the wake of the central bank's new unemployment forecasts, sent the FTSE 100 tumbling 96.79 points, or 1.4pc, to 6,630, its biggest one-day fall since mid-August. The mid-cap FTSE 250 lost 189.24 to 15,179.84, a 1.2pc drop. With traders pushing shares lower across the board, there were only 10 risers in the blue-chip index. J Sainsbury was the best performer and gained 11.9 to 410.7p after posting strong half-year results. Rival Tesco, however, slipped 2.1 to 364.7p on a downgrade to "neutral" by HSBC analyst Jerome Samuel who argued that "targeting a 5.2pc UK operating margin is increasingly looking the wrong strategy against a declining market." Analysts were also behind John Wood Group's 28½ increase to 812p. The experts at Credit Suisse upgraded the oil services company to "outperform" to account for growing exposure to North American shale. The same broker cut Amec to "neutral" on valuation grounds, sending the oil, gas and mining services group down 16p to £11.62. Meanwhile, Dixons put on 0.87 to 47.8p following a bullish assessment by Citigroup analysts, who said the electricals retailer will benefit from the continuing economic recovery in the UK and ongoing restructuring efforts. Back with those businesses reporting earnings today, industrial conveyor belt maker Fenner climbed 42.7p, or 10.5pc, to 450p - making it the biggest riser in the FTSE 250 - following encouraging full-year results. In fact, the mid-cap leaderboard was dominated by companies boosted by their latest updates: Insurer esure was 11.7 higher at 224p, online gambling group bwin.party digital entertainment advanced 5½ to 130p, and interdealer broker ICAP closed 15½ better at 391.8p. ICAP also said an investment vehicle connected to Michael Spencer, ICAP's chief executive, bought a further 500,000 shares in group, taking Mr Spencer's interest in the business to 16.89pc. But life insurer Partnership Assurance took a drubbing after it disclosed it did not expect any year-on-year growth in retirement sales in the final quarter. In response, the shares tumbled as much as 25.5pc before closing off 87.1, a fall of 21.1pc, at 325p. That takes Partnership, which only floated on the stock market in June, well below its 385p initial public offering price. The bad news from Partnership hit peer Just Retirement, 15¾ lower at 197¼p in its second day of decline since its flotation on Tuesday. Down with the small-caps, Northern Petroleum and Wessex Exploration both fell heavily after the former disappointed investors by announcing the GM-ES-5 well off the coast of French Guiana had come up dry and would be abandoned. Wessex, down 0.435, or 49.7pc, at 0.44p and Northern, off 4.125, or 10.8pc, at 34p have interests in the Guyane Maritime Permit where the well was drilled. Others with stakes in the permit are Tullow Oil, 19½ lower at 880½p following a trading update, Royal Dutch Shell, which saw its B shares slip 28.429p to £21.08½ accounting for the fact it went ex-dividend, and France's Total. The GM-ES-5 well was the final one planned for French Guiana and is the fourth failed effort.