The sheer novelty of it. UK investors, reeling from banking bail-outs, were offered shares on Wednesday in a company that is actually allowed to pay dividends. Not just that, the dividends will rise in real terms. But the perplexing thing about Scottish & Southern Energy’s share placing is why the UK utility felt the need to tap the equity markets at all. The debt markets are, contrary to popular perception, open for business, as SSE, with its rock-solid balance sheet, has itself demonstrated, along with other utilities in recent weeks.

True, the share placing is relatively small and the earnings dilution modest. The company has a huge capital expenditure plan, roughly £6.5bn over five years. The management team will have overseen a doubling of the size of the business, with some particularly astute deals along the way. To achieve this with a minor increase in equity does not seem unduly taxing.