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GROWTH COMPANY INVESTOR NOVEMBER 2009
putting up £5.6 million of the
money and Evolution Securities is
underwriting a £1.3 million open
offer to existing shareholders at Editor’s
the same price.
Chairman Stephen Gutteridge
says this new fundraising will
Opinion
‘
give AIM-quoted Meridian/
President (which lost a first-half
£1.1 million) adequate finance,
Credible turnaround tales are now receiving a serious
including a £22 million acquisition
facility from Australia’s Macquarie
Bank, to achieve the desired
status of a ‘mid-cap exploration
and production company with
‘
hearing from institutional and other investors
companies from which you could profit.
I recently met up again with AIM-focused
a strategic presence in key areas E
conomic recovery may be only tentative
but confidence is flooding back into
equity markets. Latest stats unveiled by finance director Keith Butcher, previously
of interest’. asset management industry trade body the one of the architects of the rise and rise of
The London-based company, Investment Management Association (IMA) payments services provider DataCash.
which sees its dwindling producing reveal a record year for investment sales. He has helped lure new institutional investors
assets in the USA as a ‘short-term Investors ploughed £18.7 billion (total net retail into his new charge, the restructured
cash generator’, has already
Roy Lipski: the $5 million award to Oxford
sales) into funds in the first nine months of 2009, financial software venture Lombard Risk
Catalysts is ‘a strong endorsement of the
confirmed prospective resources of
ground-breaking potential of our technology’
more than the previous full-year record, set in Management (see Pick of AIM, page 14),
630 billion cubic feet of natural gas 2000 at the height of the dot-com boom. What’s where great growth potential abounds.
or 430 million barrels of oil at its commercially desirable liquid fuels, more, the prevailing domination of bonds has Restructured Avon Rubber (see page 24),
PEL 82 licence in South Australia. such as diesel’. The National now ended, with equities taking over as the most once a staid loss-making business going
But Gutteridge, whose background Academy ranked Velocys’s grant popular asset class in the year to date. nowhere fast in automotive, is in the midst of
is with big companies, says these proposal highest out of 32 finalists Buoyed by this tide of optimism, investors are compelling turnaround and offers long-term
assets, ‘though attractive’, add up seeking awards under regaining their appetite for a bit of risk. Here at growth through the sale of protection and
to a ‘limited asset portfolio’ and the State of Ohio Department of Growth Company Investor, we consistently urge defence products into military markets.
argues that Meridian/President will Development’s ‘Third Frontier readers to derisk their portfolios, by focusing on Security products counter Shieldtech (page
need to acquire ‘further large, Project’, a £1 billion initiative over proven, profitable companies. But there is no 5) is set fair for sustained growth. SciSys
good-quality assets’ to ‘create ten years. sense cutting off your nose to spite your face (page 20), the software and services play where
value on a major scale’. Roy Lipski, chief executive officer and ignoring higher-risk rides, with a potential experienced entrepreneur Mike Love calls the
To help in this quest, the of Oxford Catalysts, calls the multi-year bull market upon us and small-caps shots, is bristling with new business and
company proposes to appoint award ‘a strong endorsement of poised to deliver superior gains. moving into sustained profit. Meanwhile,
experienced oil and gas man Dr the ground-breaking potential of A great way to square the circle is to scour the roofing designer Hightex (page 17), bombed-
Michael Cochran, senior technical our technology’. Floated at 174p market for high-risk, high-reward turnaround out but now under new management, has
adviser to Levine Capital three years ago, Oxford Catalysts situations, to supplement the more defensive returned to profit for the first time since its 2006
Management, as exploration shares fell all the way to 28.5p by stocks in your portfolio. AIM float.
director. Gutteridge and his earlier last month. They have lately Credible turnaround tales are now receiving So be willing to spice up your investments
colleagues also want to appoint bounced to 54p, valuing the a serious hearing from institutional and other with some risk – just make sure you do your
another top Levine figure, John company at £32.2 million. investors, with the attraction being that if homework first.
Hamilton, and Christopher you buy into a recovery stock at the right time,
Hopkinson, Imperial energy’s the value of your investment can soar from a
ex-chief executive officer, as European low base.
non-executive directors. Over the past month, the team here at
Floated five years ago at 30p, Goldfields’ GCI have been wearing out the shoe leather
Meridian’s shares have swung to uncover for you those as-yet-unloved James Crux
between 60.75p and 20p over the Greek gleam
past year and now trade at 46p,
valuing the company at £7.4 to the diplomatic handling of key Greeks than alone, European hopes to be in production in
million. With backing from Levine A
recent reshuffle at European
Goldfields puts gold mining Reading, whose skills are not primarily in the three years.
and his cohort, they look better financier Martyn Konig at the helm financing field. Growth Company Investor highlighted European’s
placed than many. to handle £310 million of project With an estimated eight million oz of gold, shares in January at 153.5p and again at 296p,
funding. Konig, formerly of NM 789,000 tonnes of copper and 1.6 million tonnes before suggesting partial profit taking at 397p. Now
Oxford wins
Rothschild, Goldman Sachs and of lead and zinc to be exploited in Greece 356p, the medium- to long-term prospects are fair.
New Gold Inc and already a
£3m award
European Goldfields director,
has become executive chairman
of the Yukon, Canada-based
Enjoy free money? £100,000 of it?
T
he US National Academy of company, which needs to finance
Sciences has awarded $5 its newly approved Skouries and
Take advantage of a free registration at BullBearings.co.uk
million (£3.1 million) to clean fuel Olympias gold, copper, lead
today, and claim your free £100,000 of virtual cash.
technology innovator Oxford and zinc projects in Greece and
Join the UK’s foremost trading simulator and discover the
Catalysts Group. The money its Certej gold and silver project
real benefits of virtual trading. Over 100,000 other savvy
is coming in the form of a in Romania.
‘commercialisation grant’ to At the same time, out go chief
investors have already joined and realise that trading
the AIM-quoted company’s executive officer David Reading
virtually helps them succeed in the real world.
US subsidiary, Velocys Inc, and previous chairman Dimitrios
to help develop markets for its Koutras, who masterminded
bullbearings
micro-channel technology for the victorious campaign to
safety in numbers
hydro-processing. win project approval from the
Oxford Catalysts says this is ‘an Athens authorities and who
important step’ in the production remains a substantial shareholder.
of synthetic fuels used to Company watchers suggest
bullbearings.co.uk
‘maximise the yield of that Konig might be better suited
www.growthcompany.co.uk 3
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