Sharewatch

It was a bad week for Jarvis. The worst news was that a Health and Safety Executive report concluded that the most likely cause of last year's Potters Bar rail crash was poor maintenance, for which Jarvis was responsible. This was compounded by a 7.6% fall in its share price to 298p.

Housebuilder Wimpey was boosted by chance gossip in the market that it was considering a management buyout and, although most doubted the move – one particularly eloquent analyst told Sharewatch that it was "patent bollocks" – the market picked up shares just in case. Wimpey rose 7.4% to 283p.

Speculation that retirement homes specialist McCarthy & Stone is interesting a few acquisitive housebuilders helped boost that firm's share price by 4.5% to 422p.

Consultant Capita also had a good week after telling the market the previous Friday that its turnover will be no less than £1.1bn for the 12 months to 31 December. Its share price rose 4.8% to 234p.

But the best performers last week were those that had kept shtoom. Morgan Sindall surged 15.9% to 281p and White Young Green soared 13.8% to 161p – and neither company made a statement to the stock exchange last week. Silence really is golden, then.