A compost heap of hot stocks

‘A piece of sh*t’ was the non-technical term used by Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget to describe a dotcom stock called 24/7 Media, back in October 2000. To him, it was just another ‘new paradigm’ company to foist on an overheating market.

To some observers today, the flotation on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) of another ‘renewables’ company may look just as suspicious. In June 2006, self-styled ‘hot-dung’ stock Geotrupes Energy proved it is actually possible to go public with what is, technically, a big piece of the afore-mentioned. That’s because Geotrupes develops projects using dung, or ‘biomass’, as a source of energy, as well as more conventional sources such as wind and hydrodynamics. It even takes its name from a species of dung beetle. But the irony of its name has not gone unnoticed. When it came to the Aim market to raise £6.5 million, it was the latest in a spate of renewable energy companies to seek funding this year.