SHARES in Scottish companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market enjoyed widely varying fortunes during the second quarter but on average out-performed the FTSE Small Caps index, according to accountancy firm PKF.
The average share price for the 38 Scottish Aim-listed businesses fell by 4.9 per cent in the second quarter of the year, while the overall Aim average rose by 0.2 per cent.
By comparison, the FTSE small cap index fell by 6.1 per cent while FTSE 2
50 companies lost an average of 8.6 per cent of their value, the accountancy firm said.
The top-performing Scottish firm in the second quarter was Ramco Energy, the oil and gas company, with a 266.25 per cent increase in its market value.
Other businesses that out-performed the market included Craneware, the software company, with a 28.5 per cent rise, and Axeon Holdings, which jumped 24.8 per cent jump.
PKF also highlighted the performance of Scottish companies whose shares prices fell, including MicroEmissive Displays, which dropped 49.1 per cent during the quarter, and Vianet, with a 29 per cent fall in its share price.
Graeme Cassells, corporate finance partner at PKF, said: "The second quarter continued the share price roller-coaster ride for listed companies.
"Interestingly, only Techmark and the FTSE Aim All Share markets increased during Q2.
"While the Scottish Aim companies have experienced a fall, it is not wildly out of line with the overall performance of the listed company marketplace. For example, Barratt Developments has experienced an 85.9 per cent fall in share price in Q2 and Royal Bank of Scotland shares fell 25.7 per cent over the same period."
Cassells said the sharp rises and falls illustrated the market's current volatility.
He said: "This tells us the market is reacting very strongly to any negative or positive news resulting in very large changes in share price.
"Such volatility affects the share price of the smaller companies more than the larger due to the low volume of trades. Therefore we see several Scottish firms experiencing enormous jumps in value both up and down on sometimes quite minor announcements or performance statements."
Cassells added: "It is clear we are facing a period of further uncertainty as the fallout from the credit crunch and uncertainty in the market continues to have an impact across all companies and sectors. Volatility remains the order of the day and it is unlikely we shall see much respite for Scotland's Aim-listed companies for the rest of the year."
The full article contains 437 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
