AIM news

During November and early December, the AIM Index continued to tread water not far above the 640-point level it reached in mid-September.  

Some of the more downbeat results included Belize bank BCB, which slipped 20 per cent to 94p after issuing gloomy half-year numbers to September. Earnings halved to $0.31 a share and chairman Lord Ashcroft admitted he saw ‘no signs of a recovery in the short term’.

Wood-hardening concern Accsys also suffered, its shares weakening 13 per cent to e0.5 following a half-year slide to losses of e8 million. Much smaller wood hardener Kurawood fell even further, 80 per cent, as directors proposed taking the company off the market.

At the other end, one of the top risers was European holiday resort investor Dolphin Capital Investors, up 29 per cent over the month to 57.5p after a group of directors made a tender offer for 19 per cent of the company. The offer was made at a significant discount to the company’s 186p per share net asset value at the end of September.

Fast-growing fashion website ASOS was up 23 per cent to an all-time high of 489p thanks to another well-received set of interim results. Helping lift group revenues 47 per cent to £96.5 million was a more than doubling in international sales to 25 per cent of the total.