Share indices in the week to 26 July 2002
Finally, a scrap of comfort for our beleaguered friends in the support services sector. The news that London mayor Ken Livingstone is dropping his legal action against the part-privatisation of the Tube should mean the scheme will finally go ahead.

Given the recent state of affairs in the City, executives at Amey, WS Atkins and Jarvis are unlikely to give a damn that it's the self-confessed contractor-hater Livingstone who has given them this much-needed respite.

Troubled Amey, which is part of the Tube Lines consortium that will take over the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, finally watched its share price go up after months on the slide. Its shares jumped 14% to 107.5p as the prospect of recouping the £20m it spent on bidding for the deal spread some cheer in the City.

Fellow Tube Lines member Jarvis enjoyed a 5.5p rise to 301p. And the share price of Atkins, part of the Metronet team that will run the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria, Circle, Hammersmith & City, District and East London lines, jumped 7.5p to 324p.

Shares in Metronet partner Balfour Beatty, which as a construction sector firm has not been hit as hard as those in support services in recent weeks (see opposite page), remained steady at 188p.