All the major stocks were hit by jitters after Wilcon issued a profit warning and sacrificed chief executive John Tutte in a failed attempt to appease the City. Now Berkeley, whose share price was experiencing something close to meltdown, is up 100p to 620p – much higher than when Wilcon made its announcement.
Others, such as Bellway, Persimmon, Bovis Homes and Crest Nicholson are yet to reach pre-Wilcon heights but are on the way.
"There are some brave buyers out there who have bought the stocks at the low point in the hope that things would improve. So far this appears to have paid off," said one stock watcher. But Wilcon's shares are still struggling at 140p, and it seems not even Allan Leighton – the man with more directorships than Steven Spielberg – can reassure analysts that he will turn Wilcon around.
