If you’d invested in: Altitude Group and Sepura

published 14 October 2016

If only you'd invested in

Altitude Group (Aim: ALT) provides services to the promotional products industry, including cloud-based software, websites, exhibitions and information services. The latest interim results show a move to a pre-tax profit of £0.4m in the first half of this year, compared with a loss of £0.7m in the same period last year. The share price is up by more than 300% since the start of September, though the management knows of "no corporate or operational reason" for the spectacular rise.

Be glad you didn't

Sepura (Aim: SEPU) makes digital radios and communications equipment for the transport, utilities, energy and mining sectors. It was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Cambridge and now sells to over 30 countries. It warned in April that earnings would be lower than expected, and issued a second profit warning last month, cautioning that it may have to begin talks with lenders about waiving covenants next year. In the last year the share price has dropped by 90%.

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Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.