Gamble of the week: e-procurement specialist

This market leading e-procurement specialist has seen its share price drop a quarter this year despite encouraging first-half numbers. But it is perfectly placed in a booming sector, says Paul Hill.

The stockmarket can be brutal just look at what's happened to shares of e-procurement specialist, Proactis. They have dropped 25% since January, despite encouraging first-half numbers.

In April the firm said that its pipeline was "buoyant with continued strong client loyalty". Contract values and customer quality were improving too, with "greater life-time potential". Indeed, in the last six-month period, Proactis signed several new blue-chips names, such as UTC, Bridgewater, Ahli Bank and DLA Piper. It even secured a landmark contract with a Fortune 100 organisation in October to provide its flagship Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). This service rationalises a client's purchase-to-pay processes.

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Paul gained a degree in electrical engineering and went on to qualify as a chartered management accountant. He has extensive corporate finance and investment experience and is a member of the Securities Institute.

Over the past 16 years Paul has held top-level financial management and M&A roles for blue-chip companies such as O2, GKN and Unilever. He is now director of his own capital investment and consultancy firm, PMH Capital Limited.

Paul is an expert at analysing companies in new, fast-growing markets, and is an extremely shrewd stock-picker.