If you'd invested in: WANDisco and Strat Aero

published 23 December 2016

WANdisco (Aim: WAND) makes cloud-based data management software. It's had an eventful year. A boardroom battle saw the loss-making company's co-founder and chief executive, Dave Richards, "forced to resign". Within weeks, Richards had returned, and the chairman and CFO left. The share price soared after listing in 2012, only to then lose 94% of its value, but investors who put money in in the last year have seen a return of 130%. It has been something of a wild ride, however.

Strat Aero (Aim: AERO) develops training programmes and software for collecting data via unmanned aerial vehicles, with operations in Houston, New York, London and Singapore. The company made a pre-tax loss of $2.1m in the six months to 30 June, up from $1.3m in the same period the previous year. The chairman expects the company to "require additional funding during the fourth quarter", but believes it has "all the key ingredients in place to succeed". The share price has fallen by over 90% in the last year.

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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.