If you'd invested in: Equatorial Palm Oil and DiamondCorp

If only...

Equatorial Palm Oil (Aim: PAL) produces crude palm oil from its two estates in Liberia. It is 60% owned by the Malaysian agricultural giant, KLK, and has recently started planting again after a two-year land development moratorium; it is also building a palm oil mill. In the year to 30 September it made a pre-tax loss of $1.276m, down from $1.391m the previous year. Since listing in 2009, the share price has fallen by more than 70%, but in the last year it has rallied by more than 140%.

Be glad you didn't

DiamondCorp (Aim: DCP) is a diamond producer operating the Lace mine in South Africa. The company says it is "focused on maximising shareholder value" through development of its "high-margin diamond production assets". It listed on Aim in early 2007 and shortly after peaked at just over 100p. Since then, it's been downhill all the way. The shares now stand at 0.5p, a loss of more than 99%.

Start your trial of MoneyWeek today

Get unparalleled financial insight, analysis and expert opinion you can profit from.

Start your trial

Sign up for MoneyWeek’s free twice-daily newsletter.

Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Sign up