Bottle that curse
THE curse of the Confederation of British Industry has fallen upon Rentokil and Sir Clive Thompson must wish he could bottle it. For poisoning rats, which is Rentokil's core business, it would be unbeatable. Under his chairmanship Rentokil pros- pered, and in the three years before the summer of 1998 its share price trebled. Then he became president of the CBI, and now that his term has run out the shares are back where they started five years ago. This effect is well established. Sir Clive's predecessor was (and is) the chairman of British Airways, whose shares reached their highest point soon after he took office at the CBI. Since then, after a series of bumps and air-pockets, they have lost almost half their value. This week Sir Clive hands over to Sir lain Vallance, who is chairman of British Telecom. The market must have seen him coming, for BT's shares peaked at the end of last year and are down by a third. None of this stops the CBI's presi- dents pontificating on the issues of the day, such as the single currency. If it did, the curse might lift.
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