AIM NEWS

The AIM All Share index has gained 10.2 points during the past month to 1,108.80, shaking off a recent six-month low as the September results season kicked in.

One of the most sparkling sets of figures came from senior citizen-focused life assurance group Just Retirement. Its shares clipped ahead by 12.2 per cent to 230p on annual results that showed the value of new business more than doubled to £40.3 million and pre-tax profits up a massive 719 per cent to £29.5 million. The embedded value of the company is now £143.2 million, up from just £38 million a year ago.

Profits tripled in the first half of the year at Tanfield, the maker of zero emission electric vehicles and aerial work platforms, on a 120 per cent surge in sales to £36.8 million. The cash-rich company delivered high growth in both its core divisions and said the integration of its recent acquisition, Snorkel International, had progressed smoothly. Tanfield built and shipped 60 vehicles during the period and claims it will reach a capacity of 30 electric vehicles per week at the beginning of the first quarter of 2008. The shares rose 16.1 per cent to 166.75p.

The foremost faller was Phil Edmonds’s African mining star Central African Mining and Exploration Company, which halved after the Democratic Republic of Congo questioned the legality of the company’s licences in the country. ‘The statement is erroneous and misleading,’ countered the group, whose 25.25p shares now value the company at £310 million.