According to the Financial Times fund managers and analysts have warned that the outcome for Adecco could be severely damaging whether or not the crisis turns out to be as serious as it first appeared.

Karl Green of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is quoted in the FT as saying: 'The management are going to be viewed as complicit in how this unfolded.' He added: 'They have caused damage that is very, very difficult to repair.'

An unnamed analyst from Zurich is quoted saying: 'It is difficult to see how investors can be persuaded to come back to this stock.'

The warnings follow the resignation at the end of last week of Adecco's group CFO Felix Weber.