If you haven't already of course! Since competitive market makers arrived on Ofex (including Teathers and Winterfloods) trading ofex stocks has been much easier and there is a bit more liquidity. The only difference left now is that you probably still have to deal on the phone.

Last autumn I had more or less concluded that ofex had had it - apart from my one favoured stock GSC the rest was, well, going nowhere at best, and exited the market. It was going to take something with that "x-factor" that potential to be a multi-bagger, preferably virtually unheard of, to drag me screaming back in.

Since then I have watched new floats fall along with old dogs. Along they came, Sinovation, Town and Country, Vicorp, and the rest, and stayed static or down they toddled, along with the rest.

Vicorp. Losses last year, market cap of 7 million.

Who'd buy that!

But then....... a sneaky announcement the other day, Fundraising of a million quid at 105p. Fine. Just a mo, What was the share price? 94p. Alarm-bell tinkling. Aha, best check this one out.

So I put out a 'feeler' on the Unquoted stocks board. Anyone? And who comes along but one of the most respected posters, who informs the world (or the dozen UQ active users more accurately) that indeed there is a story. A major untold story, infact. And that he took part in the placing above the market price.

'Why above?' that's unusual, wink, wink!

Well, you see, he says, it isn't just that anyone in their right minds wouldn't sell at the current market price, they think it should be many times higher, and in 12 months 105p is going to look very dopey indeed.

Yeah right!

Isn't it loss making?

It WAS.

Ah, tell more..............

This voice and data provider has completed development of its xMP suite and has signed up names like Toyota, Sprint and HBoS.

They have already guaranteed 4.5 million quids worth of business for this year. margins at 10%(after all costs including staffing etc etc) should provide a profit of just under half a million. That's secure. They have 8 million more of deals 'on the table'.

With a conversion rate of 50% historically, another 4 million would double that on a market cap under 8 million. Profit would be around 850,000 giving a p/e of 8.

And this is, er, february. So any additional deals, in the next few months and we could see that p/e tumble further, this year.

Projections for next year, which should be treated with caution, but are intended to be on the cautious side, see a 50% increase on that, which would drop the p/e to 3 or 4.

In an area that is even on AIM commanding future p/es of 30 or 40 - and the rest.

The company has a 20 year track record, this division floated off 3 years ago and experienced management very clearly know the time of day.

The risks would be that the sector is highly competitive so order conversion (fantastic so far) needs to remain solid and being on ofex stock is risky. An AIM move is planned in the autumn, but I really believe that if you are interested then you should get the stock now. A major premium on day one would imho be inevitable, and at 110p to buy now, is still terrific value.

And remember, 4.5 million of business for this year is already signed and a profit effectively guaranteed. Product development took five years and is complete. People have just backed this stock above the current price, staff hold over 15% of the shares (and the Directors around 80%) and I think this one, in a sector I normally avoid, is a very, very, special opportunity.

www.vicorp.com well worth a visit.

Hawick,

interesting post, will take a look later.

I hold only one OFEX stock, and normaly avoid as unable to trade online

Nice to get an answer Andy, most of my threads..........
.......... Little snippet from IC, very unusual for an ofex stock to get a mention.

"Vicorp raises monies

Vicorp has raised 1m to help boost its international presence. The software company, which joined Ofex last November, has already spent around $10m developing its xMP product.

The new monies will be used to rebuild its balance sheet and invest in opening up international marketing channels. having already expanded its salesforce, Vicorp is planning to make a marketing appointment shortly. As its sales build up, profits of around 1m can be expected this year.

IC View: Vicorp appears to be well-positioned in a growing voice technology landscape.Its xMP product is proving popular, and the group has a large number of promising contracts in the late stages of development."

I think at last people are taking the market seriously. Very impressed to see 12 risers and no fallers so far today. my three against the field are Vicorp, or for a quieter life either GSC or PHSC, but Vicorp is the really exciting one.

The big boys seem to love this tiddler, contracts, including with Toyota, HBOS and Sprint, and partnerships with Sun Micro, IBM and Hewlett Packard among many others. For an 8 million market cap company hidden away on ofex, that's some c.v. they are compiling!