October 2007
Micro investors have to take the rough with the smooth
EDITOR'S NOTE
Micro investors have to take the rough with the smooth
In the past month the good and bad things about very small companies have been brought into focus. Read more
Profile
Company Health Group
Company Health Group is a healthcare services provider that was formed through the reversal of Diagnostic Technologies Corporation and Company Health Ltd into an Aim-quoted shell in April 2005. DTC collects medical evidence for the life insurance market and was started up by CHG chairman Ralph Gough in 1993. It is one of only two major outsourced providers in the sector. This is a market worth up to £100m a year and DTC has more than 50 life assurance clients in the UK and Ireland. Read more 'Company Health Group'
CareCapital
CareCapital develops and invests in healthcare properties in the UK and Germany. It was started by chairman Dr Michael Sinclair and chief executive Paul Stacey in 1994. In 2004 it was restructured as a joint venture between Sinclair Montrose Trust and Asgard, a property fund managed by a subsidiary of insurer AXA, which was when £10m was injected into the business. CareCapital floated on Aim on 4 August 2006 at 30p a share but the £1.5m it raised was less than originally wanted Read more 'CareCapital'
Features
Micro companies make Aim Awards shortlist
It is time for the annual Aim Awards and while there is only one company within the Aim Micro universe that is up for an award there are a number of nominees that were worth less than £25m just over one year ago. Read more 'Micro companies make Aim Awards shortlist'
Comparison: Crash repair centres
Micro companies have their larger equivalents and it is an interesting exercise to compare how they are faring in comparison. In this edition we are analysing crash repair centres operator Just Car Clinics and its much larger rival Nationwide Accident Repair Services. Read more 'Comparison: Crash repair centres'
Staggered fundraisings
Raising money is an important part of most companies’ expansion strategies. Debt or an issue of new ordinary shares are the obvious ways of obtaining more cash. Sometimes it is difficult to raise money that way and companies have to think of more innovative ways of raising cash. Read more 'Staggered fundraisings'
Companies
Clipper Ventures
The Clipper 07-08 race started on 16 September and the ten boats are now well on their way across the Atlantic to Brazil. Read more 'Clipper Ventures'
Voller Energy
It has been a busy couple of months for fuel cell systems developer Voller Energy Read more 'Voller Energy'
Vero progress
Last year’s acquisitions have helped computer aided design software supplier Vero Software to increase its first half profits by 40% to £280,000. Read more 'Vero progress'
Potential Global reversal
Oil drilling rigs manufacturer IDM is in talks to reverse into oil services equipment supplier Global Marine Energy. Read more 'Potential Global reversal'
Oxonica seeks cash
Nanotechnology group Oxonica is running out of cash and is looking to raise more money. Read more 'Oxonica seeks cash'
Bioganix expands
Bioganix, which turns biodegradeable waste into compost, is due to open its third plant in 2008. Read more 'Bioganix expands'
Betbrokers downgrade
Retail and wholesale betting brokerage Betbrokers is increasing customer numbers but it will take a much more to cover costs. Read more 'Betbrokers downgrade'
Publishing Technology’s maiden figures
Vista reversed into Ingenta in February. That makes the results of Publishing Technology confusing. Read more 'Publishing Technology’s maiden figures'
Aukett Fitzroy Robinson
Aukett Fitzroy Robinson is an architect, design and planning services business. It was formed by the merger of Aukett Group and Fitzroy Robinson at the end of March 2005. By merging the two companies and creating a larger and more financially sound group the business has a better chance of winning work on larger projects. Clients include Royal Bank of Scotland, Land Securities, Arlington, Norwich Union and Diageo. The group has offices in Continental Europe, including Poland and Russia. Chief executive Nicholas Thompson originally ran the Fitzroy Robinson business. He closed Aukett’s former head office and made other cost savings when the companies merged. Read more 'Aukett Fitzroy Robinson'
Servoca
Servoca was formerly known as Multi Group. It originally floated as a tool hire company but those operations ran into financial difficulties and were sold. Multi then moved into recruitment but its initial acquisitions did not perform as well as it hoped. Dream Group reversed into Multi in June in order to form Servoca. Dream’s core business supplies staff to the police and the rest of the criminal justice sector. Other recruitment activities cover the medical, care and education sectors. Servoca wants to build up a second leg to the business which would be involved in security services. In June 2007 Servoca consolidated 100 shares into one new share. Read more 'Servoca'
Cyan Holdings
Cambridge-based Cyan Holdings is a fabless semiconductor business that specialises in microcontrollers. It was founded in 2002 and the key product is the ultra low power eCOG1 16-bit microcontroller unit. More recently it has developed a 32-bit microcontroller unit. Cyan has its own free design tool called CyanIDE which enables customers to design their own microcontrollers. Cyan’s microcontrollers are particular suited to wireless, EPoS and handheld devices. The main selling points are the low power and potential reduction in cost and time. Read more 'Cyan Holdings'
Advanced Power Components
Rochester-based Advanced Power Components is an electronic components distributor. It has three main businesses: specialist electronic components distribution, a manufacturers representative business, which receives a commission for selling on behalf of the manufacturer, and procurement and materials management under the ‘go!’ brand. The electronic components distribution business was supplemented by the acquisition of Hero Electronics in May 2006. APC supplies niche and hard to get components and its key customers are involved in the military, aerospace, transport and industrial sectors. Read more 'Advanced Power Components'
Proton Power Systems
Proton is a UK holding company but its subsidiary Proton Motor is based near Munich and has been developing and selling fuel cell products for more than a decade. The new ‘Triple-hybrid’ product is a combination of a fuel cell (made up of two stacks) running on hydrogen, battery and supercapacitors. It replaces the large pack of batteries that is in a standard fork lift truck. Proton’s system is the same size and can be slotted into the fork lift truck and connected up easily. The ‘Triple-hybrid’ name has been trademarked by Proton. Proton has also developed fuel cell systems for buses (which use six stacks), passenger ferries and street cleaning vehicles. Proton raised £4.67m at 80p a share when it joined Aim on 31 October 2006. Read more 'Proton Power Systems'
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