Peter Ashworth, the indefatigable small company aficionado at leading broker Charles Stanley issued his firm's annual 'Small Cap Ideas' bulletin at the turn of the year, to the market's usual acclaim.

Among the ventures Ashworth & Co rate are IT security group nCipher, information business Datamonitor and ATM operator Cardpoint.

nCipher is lauded because its products are successfully addressing the need of corporations to enhance the security of their data – in the face of both criminal activity and increased regulatory missives from Whitehall. Charles Stanley upgraded this group's forecasts twice in 2004 and 'expects to be able to upgrade further' in 2005. At the current 226.5p, it trades on a multiple of 21.

As for Datamonitor, it recently completed two acquisitions (for a total cost of up to £15.4 million), which Ashworth says represent 'significant transactions'. With these ventures onboard, he expects Datamonitor to produce profits of around £6.9 million for 2005 and no less than £8.4 million in 2006.

Cardpoint gets the thumbs up as it is now 'one of the major players in the provision of ATMs in the UK'. Its acquisition of 816 machines from HBOS last year ensured it greatly increased its revenue-generating ability without increasing its cost base. For Ashworth, the group's current rating is 'too low'.