OYSTERTEC

In today's Daily Telegraph Business section (the very same paper that this time last year wrote a monumental article saying that Energis was THE stock of the year!!!) there's a list of 'bon mots' from business people during 2002. One of them is from our old mate Paul Davidson: "Everyone who comes here(OYS)arrives thin and leaves fat."

Not exactly Confucian, but this was from the man who sold up his entire holding, some of it at 12p. His idea of fat and mine are a little different, but then I didn't pocket a few million from floating the company, certainly not from having his amazing creativity in inventing the product to start with.

But as they say in America, 'It's the pioneer what gets scalped and it's the settler what makes the money.' How true can that piece of folksy wisdom be.

Bonne année, tous les mondes!