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GROWTH COMPANY INVESTOR NOVEMBER 2009
CONTENTS
CITY NEWS
Features
continued from page 1
portfolio and change its board.
12 Picking AIM’s property performers QVT, holder of some 12.3 per cent
Trial hopes for Toumaz
For canny investors, there are profits to be made in a property
of LAC, whose shares peaked at
sector now showing resurgent signs, says Robert Tyerman 120p in 2007 before collapsing to
below 3p prior to delisting, has S
t Mary’s Hospital in
x London has begun to
24 Arming your portfolio
called a special shareholders’ trial a ‘digital plaster’
Across global protection, defence and military markets, a select band of
meeting for 24 November. developed by electronics
small-cap companies are poised for resilient growth, writes James Crux
The fund’s aim is to gain innovator Toumaz, the
approval for the ‘immediate but company headed by ex-
Regulars
orderly realisation’ of its tangled GlaxoSmithKline chairman
portfolio of investments and the Sir Richard Sykes. The trial,
replacement of most of its present which is sponsored by the
4 Company Watch
board with a new team, including $5 billion New York-listed
The Growth Company Investor recommendations
Brett Miller of Astaire Securities, CareFusion Corporation,
Former England rugby player Simon Shaw tries
8
who is seen as having a track could prove a significant step
Company Watch News
out Toumaz’s new digital plaster
record in extracting value from in gaining European
Updates on our recommendations
troubled companies. However, regulatory accreditation for the company’s Sensium wireless body-
10 Company Profile
LAC chief executive Keith Negal, monitoring system.
Profitable human resources software specialist OneClickHR punches
whose own position is not Founder and chief executive Professor Chris Toumazou adds that the
above its weight with some major clients, writes Oliver Haill
challenged, has now written to trial, due to finish in the first quarter of next year, ‘opens the door to
investors urging them to oppose some very exciting applications of our technology in clinical
14 James Crux’s Pick of AIM
most of QVT’s proposals. environments next year’. Toumazou, made a professor at Imperial
A trio of tech firms are plotting profitable paths via the sale of products He commends instead a tender College at the age of just 33, explains that disposable Sensium
into the recently rattled financial markets offer for up to 29.9 per cent of the plasters continuously monitor patients’ vital signs, including skin
15
company at 5p a share by Wuhan temperature, heart rate and respiration, and therefore pick up critical
New Issues Examined
Kaidi Group, a co-investor with medical information ‘that would not otherwise have been detected’.
Although it barely deserves the term, the recent ‘momentum’ in the AIM
LAC in investment group ‘This preventative form of medicine will mean that fewer people will
new issues market continued into October with three impressive
Zhongying Changjiang require intensive care in the future, saving lives and at the same time
fundraisings
International Credit and headed by providing greater efficiencies and cost savings to the NHS. Once
16 Fund Manager Focus
influential entrepreneur Chen proven in a hospital setting, the digital plaster can be deployed in the
Yilong. Negal has spent many home in the same way.’
Drawing upon his decade of experience of investing in the smaller
companies space, M&G’s Simon Bailey is keen to capitalise on the
months unravelling the web of Shares in Toumaz, which raised £3 million in July and more recently
current stock market recovery
investments assembled under revealed results to June showing halved losses on revenues up 270 per
the company’s previous boss, cent to £2.6 million, have recovered well from December’s all-time low
17 Spread Betting
Simon Littlewood, including a of 2.88p to 8.25p.
Brazil, back in the spotlight having won the rights to host the 2016
£3.1 million written-off loan to a
Olympics, has been a favourite region for many investors over the past Croatian venture.
few years He says he has already restored figures from a year previously.
18
LAC’s potential net asset value to Since July, the company has won Levine fund
Robert Tyerman’s Exploration Insights
£24.6 million, or 10.7p a share, its first order for aero-certified
Four mining concerns’ recent activity could result in share price uplifts
partly by cancelling shares in systems in North America, from backs
over the coming months – two in metals, one in gas and one in oil
obscure ‘share swap’ companies of Stevens Aviation Inc.
21 Directors’ Dealings
little or no discernible value. In September, SCOTTY won a Meridian
Jenny Lowe rounds up the recent director buying and selling
According to Negal, the way £700,000 order for video-
several of these investments were conferencing equipment from the growth
22 Sector Watch/Market Watch
structured seems to have involved German Armed Forces and last
unacceptable conflicts of interest month brought in a £900,000
26 Brokers’ Views and potential regulatory breaches. contract for key positioning and M
eridian Petroleum wants
to expand by acquisition,
In some cases, other parties communication equipment for aided by a £6.9 million
28 New Issues/Newcomers
appear to have acquired majority Eurocopter’s Personnel Location fundraising at 25p and rename
29
stakes for a fraction of the money System for German Army itself President Petroleum.
People
paid by LAC for minority holdings. helicopters. At 43p, against a 12- British Virgin Islands-based
Robert Tyerman’s rundown of the key personalities on the growth
More recoveries – and discoveries – month high of 70.5p and a low of Levine Capital Management,
company stage
could be on the cards. 35p, SCOTTY’s shares value the headed by formidable Imperial
company at £8.7 million. Energy founder Peter Levine, is
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