Predictably, the market was extremely quiet today, with very little news or results issued. The one notable exception on Aim was the eagerly awaited interim results from debt-ridden aquarium operator Deep-Sea Leisure. Of the major indices, the FTSE 100 was down 2.6 to 6215.6 while the techMARK 100 slid 1.58 to 2559.01.

Deep-Sea Leisure took its turn to bring bad tidings today. The aquarium operator has suffered 'severe cash flow problems', having failed to meet deadlines for the repayment of its substantial debt burden and is currently looking to raise £3.5 million net of expenses (£2.4 million of which is guaranteed) to repay a £2 million bridging facility and provide working capital. The results showed a sharp fall in operating profits from £1.3 million to £0.9 million with turnover slipping £0.2 million to £3.2million. The company is due to pay off £4.3 million of debt during the next twelve months, with another £6.7 million to be paid off thereafter. Deep-Sea is still without a chief executive after the resignation of Phil Crane due to the original debt debacle. Shares remained unchanged at 31.5p, close to a year-low.

Many of yesterday's high performing stocks put in another good display, notably Ofex-graduate and biodegradable plastics developer Environmental Polymers, which rose a further 5p to 33p. The company has developed a strong, non-toxic and biodegradable plastic that dissolves in water. It has attracted a good deal of media and investor attention since listing on Aim at 15p on 21 November following a flotation that raised £5 million, £1 million less than intended.

Other strong performers today included Legendary Investments, up a further 0.25p to 3p following yesterdays 0.75p rise and Zytronic, which gained another 23p to 269p. Both reported results recently.

Property developer and project manager London Town attracted some attention after a joint venture company in which it has a 5 per cent stake acquired a riverside site in Wandsworth for £29.5 million cash. The company is expecting to accrue £13.5 million, gross for its project management services, over the estimated 3-4 year period the 422 flat complex should take to be completed. It is estimated that the site will be worth £180 million when the work is finished. Shares in London Town put on 8.5p to 121p.

Less-than-a-penny stock Era continued to fall to new lows, losing 0.13p to 0.69p on the day, though more shares were bought than sold, suggesting that many see the owner of the Beatties chain as a recovery play and have decided to act. Electronic investment exchange operator Tradepoint Financial was also on the way down continuing falls experienced since the entry of nearly 5 million extra shares to the market, due the recent exercise of options and warrants.

Pacific Media graduates from Aim to the Full List tomorrow, having performed impressively over the past few days, gaining 1p to 3.22p since the close on Friday 22 December. The Asian focused integrated media and e-commerce group consists of TV Media, in which it holds a 98.2 per cent stake and AsiaCommerce, which is both an investing and operating company, in which it has a 41.9 per cent interest. For the six months ended 30 June 2000, turnover eased off to £1.53 million (£1.59 million) while profits of £701,000 were converted into a £908,000 loss.