Baltimore Technologies chief executive Mr Fran Rooney has dismissed talk that the firm may fall from the FTSE-100 index, saying "it wouldn't be the end of the world if it happened".

At the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants' autumn lunch yesterday - after the £167 million sterling (€288 million) stock placement this week - Mr Rooney preferred to focus only on building the Internet security firm for now and paying attention to its share price in two years.

"The index is obviously a nice thing to have . . . But we're trying to expand here. I can't worry about the market right now." he said.

Baltimore narrowly avoided being excluded from the index this week when it was reconfigured. It will be in danger again in December because its share price has slumped ever since it said in mid-September it would acquire Content Technologies. But Mr Rooney blamed hedge fund managers for the market decline. He claimed they shorted the stock to drive it below 450p, which - under a provision in the contract - would place the Content deal in danger.

But both Baltimore and Content's shareholders have agreed this week to waive their rights to terminate the share purchase if the Baltimore price falls below 450p before completion.

Baltimore's share price continued its recovery yesterday from the week's news, closing at 525p sterling on FTSE.