If you'd invested in: LPA Group and Bonmarché

LPA Group (Aim: LPA) designs and manufactures LED lighting systems from its headquarters in Cambridge. Having "entered the year at a gallop", the company confirmed in a trading statement in September that it was "still galloping", and is likely to exceed market expectations. Latest half-yearly results show revenue up by 32% and pre-tax profits up too. Brexit hasn't affected the outlook, which "appears to be extremely positive". Its shares are up by more than 130% in the last year.

Be glad you didn't

Wakefield-based Bonmarch (LSE: BON) sells clothes and accessories to "mature women" via shops and mail-order catalogues, and online. A "difficult" first quarter of 2016, with like-for-like sales down by 7.7%, was followed by an equally tough second quarter and "extremely poor" sales in September, leading to a second profits warning in 12 months and forecast of "considerable uncertainty" ahead. The share price has fallen by more than 70% in the last year.

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