If you’d invested in: Metro Bank and Hikma Pharmaceuticals

published 14 July 2017

If only...

In 2010,Metro Bank (LSE: MTRO) was launched as Britain's first new high-street bank in over 100 years. The firm now has 48 branches or stores as it calls them in the southeast of England.

Metro has had a "superb start to the year", said chairman and founder Vernon Hill, with "improved performance on every level", swinging into profit for the first time. It listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2016, and in the last year the share price has risen by more than 110%.

Be glad you didn't

Jordan's Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LSE: HIK) makes generic and branded drugs, which it sells primarily in the US, the Middle East and north Africa. Despite a rise in revenue and profits for 2016, its shares fell as part of a wider selloff in generic drugmakers and on news that the US regulator withheld approval for its generic version of asthma drug Advair. The shares are down by more than 40% 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.