Batman. Boatman. The Street Sweeper. A colourful array of anonymous vigilante research companies operate in the shadows of the market these days. Unmasking their true motives is no easy feat.

That is what London-listed Babcock International has discovered as it frantically tries to find out who is behind a damning 23-page dossier that alleges the UK engineering services company “systematically misled investors by burying bad news about its performance”.