If you'd invested in : EU Supply and Topps Tiles

published 10 March 2017

If only...

EU Supply (LSE: EUSP) develops procurement software and systems to facilitate tendering and supply-chain and contract management. It was formed in Sweden in 1999 and listed on Aim in November 2013. It expects to make a pre-tax loss of £0.8m in the year to 31 December 2016, down from £1.4m the previous year, but it recently reported its first profitable quarter and expects its first annual profit in 2017 on the back of an "exceptionally strong" order book. The share price has risen by more than 260% in the last year.

Be glad you didn't

Topps Tiles (LSE: TPT) sells wall and floor tiles to retail and trade customers from more than 350 shops across the UK. The 52 weeks to 1 October 2016 saw "very robust" trading with record sales of £215m, like-for-like sales up by 4.2%, and pre-tax profit rising by 7.8% to £22m. However, with a "notable shift" in consumer confidence in the second half of the year, like-for-like sales in the first eight weeks of the new financial year fell by 0.3%, and the share price has fallen by more than 40% in the last 12 months.

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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.