Diamonds and duds of 2002

THE stock market is in the grips of the worst bear market since the Depression of the 1930s. But amid the doom and gloom there have been some cheering success stories.

Energy Technique, a company which uses high-density ultraviolet light to destroy superbugs, was the best performing stock of the year, rising 475% to 17 1/4p. With superbugs killing more and more hospital patients, demand should grow and prompt further buying.

Online travel businesses EBookers and lastminute.com cemented their status as champion dotcom survivors. EBookers recorded its first quarterly profit of £200,000 in November and has recently tabled bids for parts of the struggling My Travel tour operator. Lastminute, run by Martha Lane Fox and Brent Hoberman, has now been elevated to the FTSE 250 and also reported its first quarterly underlying profit.

Photocopier supplier Danka Business Systems, another big riser, almost went bust after buying Eastman Kodak's photocopier business in 1996, taking its debt to £825m. But a renewed funding operation in October has secured its future for the next three years.

Tea and coffee retailer Whittard of Chelsea brewed up a nice share price increase after climbing back into profits last year. It has £5m cash in the bank and hopes to expand in Moscow and China.

Burn Stewart Distillers made it into the winners' list when the Trinidad-based owner of Angostura Bitters concluded an agreed cash offer of 75p-a-share, valuing the group at £489m. Other risers include Alternative Investment Market-listed Cassidy Brothers, which makes toys and nursery goods. Another winner is Arko Energy, an AIM company with interests in power generation, logistics and mineral resources in China.

Those hovering just outside the top eight include GB Railways and Griffin Mining. The wooden spoon goes to financial services software group AIT. It has fallen 99.8% to 35p after running into a liquidity crisis. But in August it gave itself some breathing space by tying up a £12.5m refinancing package and signing up a new management team.

Shareholders in Monotub Industries saw their investment shrink faster than a cashmere jumper in a boil wash after a devastating Which? magazine report into its washing machines. Weston Medical crashed after it said it was experiencing technical problems with its Intraject device, which delivers liquid drugs through the skin without a needle.

Dealings in Quadranet remain suspended. The Aim-listed developer of restaurant reservation systems was spun out of parent BGR in April 2000 just as the dotcom bubble burst. The company is currently waiting for a buyer to come along. It could be a long wait. London Pacific was forced to close its US and Jersey insurance arms to new business in the fallout from the WorldCom accounting crisis.

Aim-listed computer games company Akaei was another big faller. Shares are frozen in Sportsworld Media Group, part-owner of the successful Popstars TV show, which was placed in administration in March.

Other big losers include gaming company Aspinalls Online and, just outside the bottom eight, British Energy, down from 228p to 5 1/4p. Many more companies joined the 90% club and will want to forget 2002.

But hope springs eternal. Keep everything crossed that a recovery in the economy and higher corporate profits next year will put the colour blue back on dealers' trading screens - and smiles back on their faces.