Oops! AMP shares took a dive on Friday thanks to analysts rewriting their assessments of the company’s profitability. CEO Paul Batchelor is understood to be less than pleased with what his spokesmen have described as a coincidence. The company finished last week saying that no “new information” was given to the analysts during face-to-face briefings.

So what information were the analysts given by investor relations executive Kate Macintosh that might enable them to warn their top clients that AMP’s first-half profits have gone south? These briefings aren’t usually closed-door affairs, and plenty of compliance, finance and legal experts normally sit in to make the occasion a very carefully controlled event.

Analysts contacted today by InsNet News were circumspect about what may have been said. “Body language” has been suggested by several. “It wouldn’t have been direct statements,” one analyst said. “It’s the way these things are said is important.”

It must have been. Six major stockbroking companies published less favourable analyses of AMP’s first-half performance after the briefings. So certainly the message was clear: AMP was uncomfortable with the bullish approach being taken over its performance by some analysts and decided to hose them down.

Significantly, the reasons the analysts gave for their backtracking weren’t all the same. Forecasts for the first-half result now range from $389 million to $449.