Small-cap survivors emerge from sharemarket wreckage

The financial year just ended may have been one of the worst on record for the Australian sharemarket, but that hasn’t stopped some small-caps from enjoying strong share price growth.

The financial year just ended may have been one of the worst on record for the Australian sharemarket, but that hasn’t stopped some small-caps from enjoying strong share price growth.

For the sharemarket as a whole, 2007/08 has been the worst year since 1981-82, but the pain has not fallen evenly across the market. While the big end of town felt the pain, with the S&P/ASX200 down 16.9% for the year, small caps took a much bigger hit; the S&P/ASX200 Small Ords fell 23.2%.

According to The Australian Financial Review, however, a selection of some small-caps have done well in 2007-08 despite the gloom. The best performers were:

• OM Holdings – up 547%
• Carnarvon Petrol – up 121%
• Midwest Corporation – up 115%
• Sunshine Gas – up 97%
• Karron Gas – up 91%
• Platinum Australia – up 67
• Avoca resources – up 66%
• Nido Petroleum – up 62%
• PanAust – up 62%
• Straits Resources – up 49%

Of course, the fact that there were some winners only highlights just how badly the losers in the small-cap sector must have faired. Here are the bottom 10 share price performers for the 2007-08:

• GRD – down 76%
• Mirvac Industrial – down 77%
• Oceana Gold – down 78%
• Boom Logistics – down 79%
• Flexigroup – down 86%
• Rubicon Europe – down 90%
• Rubicon America – down 91%
• Rubicon Japan – down 91%
• Record Realty – down 92%
• City Pacific – down 92%
• Credit Corp – down 94%

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