Tech firms soar but the Sun man sinks
(Filed: 31/12/2005)
The benchmark FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250 may have chalked up fantastic gains but outside the top 350 the most stunning rise of the year was posted by the online auction group QXL Ricardo, which soared a staggering 1,260.8pc.
Shares began their ascent after a bidding war broke out between QXL's management and the cash shell Florissant. But QXL's climb to £113.33 was largely due to technical reasons: with the shares tightly held, bearish investors were constantly forced to buy back stock at higher prices.
Future Internet Technologies, a cash shell, surged 1,153.8pc after former Scoot boss Robert Bonnier bought a 14pc stake. Ultrasis, a developer of computer-based treatment for depression and anxiety, soared 497pc after the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence recommended its therapy.
Pie maker Canterbury Foods tumbled 96.9pc to 1.12p after the Aim-listed group plunged into the red and put itself up for sale.
Sanctuary Group, the music management company behind acts such as Elton John and Joss Stone, also joined the 90pc club, after a string of profit warnings. Magazine publisher Highbury House ran out of cash and slumped 90.1pc. Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie bought a 20pc stake but quit as executive chairman after three months, "defeated by a mountain of debt".
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