Green gains aid defiant AIM

The FTSE 100, which touched 5022.1 at one point on Thursday morning, ended the week at 5229.8, up 207.7 points, or 4.1 per cent, since that nadir and ahead 72.1 points over the whole week. AIM also finished in positive territory, showing a 5.6 point increase to 1009.

Hope that the G8 summit might promote further use of renewable energy helped several stocks in this sector.

Green energy producer Alkane Energy saw its shares shoot up 47 per cent to 54.25p. The specialist developer of methane energy generators has just completed its half-year and expects a maiden profit for the full year to this December. Methane-derived energy is expected to receive G8 support.

Other beneficiaries of G8 hot air included vegetable oil-to-biodiesel fuel play Biofuels Corporation, up 29 per cent to 137.5p, and enterprise investor XL TechGroup. The latter increased 27 per cent to 352.5p, because one of its spin-outs, AgCert, in which it has a 27 per cent stake, has recently floated on the main market. AgCert creates greenhouse gas emission credits from animal waste.

March’s safe play

Investors piled into some of London’s security-based groups in the light of the terrorist bombings. March Networks, which supplies visual surveillance solutions to the security industry, led the way gaining 13.8 per cent to 680p.

Another of AIM’s security-focused players, Newmark Security, a supplier of security products including bullet-proof glass and biometric scanners, picked up 3 per cent to 1.8p.

Insolvency practitioner Begbies Traynor advanced 21 per cent to 110.5p. This was not in anticipation of tougher economic times ahead, but after reporting strong results ahead of expectations for the year to April, with pre-tax profits rising 16.3 per cent to £4.3 million. Chairman Ric Traynor declared a maiden dividend of 0.5p and aims to double the group’s market share over the next two years.

Other movers

Noting this week’s 80 per cent share price to 1.59p, marketing services counter NWD admitted it was in early-stage discussions with ‘a number of potential acquisition targets and merger partners’ and also that ‘NWD has recently been the subject of favourable press comment’.

The week’s biggest riser was Surface Technology Systems, manufacturer of technologies for micro-electro-mechanical systems. It announced on Monday that it had received multiple orders for its new Pegasus system for micro-machining applications in silicon, the base material for many micro-electro-mechanical devices. The company expects ‘to see a significant impact on sales’ and a 76 per cent rise in the share price to 18.5p reflected this confidence.

Finally, print management counter TripleArc warned on profits for the year to December adding that finance director Peter Houston is to depart. Chief executive Jason Cromack says the figures will be ‘significantly’ below forecasts, with profits lower than last year, as demand has dwindled and TripleArc has lost an expected large contract with a professional services organisation. The shares sunk 6.25 per cent to 7.6p.