If you’d invested in: Sopheon and Crawshaw Group

If only you'd invested in

Sopheon (Aim: SPE) is a company that provides "product lifecycle management" software for businesses. It is based in Minneapolis and listed on London's Aim. Recent strategic and operational changes, along with new product releases, have led to a 37% rise in revenue for the first half of 2016, moving the company from a loss of $0.5m to a profit of $1.5m. This performance has been reflected in the share price, which has soared by more than 400% in the past year.

Be glad you didn't

Rotherham butcher Crawshaw Group (Aim: CRAW) operates 49 shops in the Midlands and north of England, selling fresh meat and pre-prepared food. The past couple of years have seen an aggressive expansion plan, but a recent revamp of the fresh meat range didn't go down well. Although turnover rose 29% and gross profit by 31% in the six months to 31 July, management was "very disappointed" by like-for-like sales. The share price has plummeted by more than 50% in the past month.

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