If you'd invested in: IQE and Foxton's

If only

IQE (LSE: IQE) designs and manufactures semi-conductor wafers for the electronics industry. The Cardiff-based company was founded in 1988 and floated on the Nasdaq exchange in 1999, and the London Stock Exchange a year later. Turnover and profits are increasing steadily. For the six months to 30 June 2016 the firm made a pre-tax profit of £10m, up from £4.5m for the same period a year earlier. In the last year, the share price has risen by more than 160%.

Be glad you didn't

Foxtons (LSE: FOXT) is a residential estate agent that was founded in London's Notting Hill in 1981, and which is still primarily focused on the capital, where it also operates a mortgage-broking business. The slowdown in the London property market has proved "challenging" and the management expects conditions to remain tough through 2017. A profit warning in June 2016 sent the share price down by 23% it has fallen by more than 70% since the peak in 2014, and by 37% in the last year.

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