Watkin back with vegetable oil firm

A DOTCOM millionaire who made hundreds of times his original investment when other shareholders lost 30% of their stakes, is returning to the stock market.

Karl Watkin collected £3.6m on a £30,000 investment when he closed his business-to-business web company Just2Clicks in 2001.

Now he is back as chairman and a major investor in D1 Oils, a grower of vegetable oil plants and producer of biodiesel.

The company is joining the Alternative Investment Market, raising £13m via a placing and will be valued at £34.4m at 160p a share.

D1 Oils has developed an oil-producing bush which produces much higher yields and lasts longer than other types of oilproducing plants such as rape and linseed.

The company has secured rights to grow 37,000 hectares of the bushes in Africa, India and the Philippines, and has options over another 6m hectares.

It is building small-scale refineries that can convert the vegetable oil into biodiesel.

Chief executive Philip Wood said: 'We are very confident about our prospects and our ability to become a leading, low-cost producer of vegetable oil and biodiesel.'