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And Paragon has always been a prudent lender. For the most part, it only deals with full-time landlords - typically with a dozen or more properties, and loan-to-value ratios are relatively modest at around 80 per cent of each property. Consequently, bad debts remain far below the industry average at just 0.54 per cent of the loan book. And, even where landlords encounter problems, Paragon adopts a hands-on approach by stepping in to secure the rental income required to meet the mortgage payments. If the landlord is unable to continue then a receiver is appointed, and last year there were 1,483 repossessions, of which 93.9 per cent were let out, with rental income more than meeting mortgage payments. Of course, all of this could grind to a halt if financial markets suffer another seizure, which is possible given the state of the eurozone, thus freezing up wholesale money markets again. And at some point, although later rather than sooner, mortgage rates will have to rise from current lows, which could put pressure on some landlords.

However, most revenue still comes from providing buy-to-let mortgages, and there are signs of improvement in that market. Not only has Paragon established a warehouse loan facility from which it can draw funds to lend out, but in November it also completed its first securitisation since the credit crunch, raising £164m at 2.75 percentage points over Libor. What this entails is bundling a package of mortgages and using them as collateral to back securities, whose coupon is lower than the interest rate on the mortgages. Consequently, the mortgages disappear from the balance sheet and the money from the securities reloads the warehouse facility. And plans are well advanced to extend and increase this from the latest £200m facility secured with Macquarie Bank. All told, Paragon now has issued over £8bn of asset-backed securities.

Paragon is not back to its old self. How can it be when the UK's economy is barely even spluttering. But while it may not be business as usual, Paragon is still set to make record profits in the year to the end of September, thanks in large part to diversifying its revenue stream. Before the credit crunch, Paragon operated a consumer lending business and offered buy-to-let mortgages. Both of these virtually stopped when access to affordable wholesale funding all but dried up (Paragon has no retail deposits to tap). In response, its bosses started to source alternative revenues and these are providing much of the current momentum. Now Paragon derives an increasing chunk of its profits from buying and running off portfolios of unsecured loans from high street banks anxious to shrink their activities. Sure, unsecured loans come with risks, but Paragon pays far less than face value for them. Since 2009 it has bought approaching £100m-worth of loans, and they are performing well. Paragon also put to good use its expertise in managing loans by establishing Moorgate Loan Servicing to manage loans for other lenders. This, too, has worked out well. By the end of last year it was servicing nearly 50,000 third-party accounts. And a further 33,000 are planned for inclusion by September this year.

Value investing is risky when dealing with small companies such as NewRiver. But that risk is lower with property companies, which can be fairly accurately valued on the basis of net asset value (NAV). NewRiver's shares currently trade 31 per cent below forecast NAV. Such a gap can't last for ever and, meanwhile, there is the yield. For the ultra patient,...........BUT AS ALWAYS DYOR GL

Of course, such isolated deals are the low-hanging fruit. Most of NewRiver's investments are whole malls, which take longer to turn around, often involving costly refurbishments. For example, the company bought an ugly shopping precinct in Witham, Essex, last November, which it hopes to spruce up and reconfigure to accommodate a supermarket. It has similar plans for four larger centres it bought last August in a transformational £68m deal from Zurich Insurance. Such projects are more complex and riskier. Moreover, left to themselves, valuations for such assets are falling. Bank finance is thin, and equity-rich institutions won't touch assets that need hard management work. NewRiver will have to run just to stand still. Yet the company has a commonsense approach. It only buys centres where rents are already low – that, Mr Lockhart thinks, is the secret to keeping old tenants and attracting new ones. He also sticks as closely as he can to four sectors in which consumer demand is reasonably robust: supermarkets, cheap fashion, health and beauty, and discounters. Three-fifths of income in the Zurich portfolio comes from these sectors. Meanwhile, NewRiver generates lots of cash. Its acquisitions last year had an average rental yield of 8.5 per cent - far higher than the cost of debt. That funds the dividends that currently generate a fat yield (see table). NewRiver is a real-estate investment trust, so it is obliged to distribute 90 per cent of its rental profits.

This is one for the contrarians. Shares in NewRiver Retail have dropped continually since they were floated in 2009, and the company's field of investment - high-street mini-malls in the UK - could hardly be less fashionable. Yet the plan makes sense and, so far, it has been executed with consistency. We don't know when the share price erosion will stop - but we are confident the shares are already a bargain. NewRiver was set up by property old-timer David Lockhart, whom seasoned investors may remember as the founder of Aim-quoted Halladale. He bailed out at the right time, selling Halladale in early 2007. He then launched NewRiver just as the real estate market was recovering in mid-2009. The idea was to buy down-market shopping arcades, ideally from distressed sellers, turn them around and sell them. That's easier said than done, particularly in a recession that is hitting consumer spending the hardest. But there is evidence that the plan is working. NewRiver's first disposal was of a retail unit in Canterbury, which it acquired in 2010. The company conducted a rent review with a discount department store, Wilkinson, then sold the unit to an institutional investor for a geared profit on cost of 16 per cent. Last October, it sold a unit in Great Yarmouth for £3.38m, having bought it for £2.5m and re-let it almost immediately to Poundland.

Still with mining, and West Africa focused group Randgold Resources (RRS) is set to update the markets, which are seeking continued assurance over the political stability of Mali. Certainly the worst does seem to be over both for the country and the Randgold share price, now £10 plus back above the £45 levels of May. This update will be important though - the attitude of Investec in May as it put the stock under review is a typical reflection of current stock market perception.

Kada Technology's growth strategy is to roll out its wireless media operations, invest in research and development capacity and projects, and to increase the number of authorised distributorships for electronic components. In addition, it plans to broaden the product lines that the group distributes for existing customers, while expanding the group's geographical market reach in the People's Republic of China and internationally. "The board is delighted to join AIM which marks a significant step for Kada Technology, enabling us to capitalise on the considerable opportunities that exist in our key markets," said He Xuebom, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kada. "In particular, the board has identified a significant opportunity for growth in the Media Platform Business and expects this to assist in the group's future growth. The market for Kada Technology's products and services is growing at a considerable rate domestically, and the group has innovative technology coupled with a well established business to capitalise on this growth," the CEO added.

Founded in 2004, Kada Technology employs more than 130 people and has headquarters in Shenzhen as well as offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhuzhou and Mianyang in China; it also has offices outside China in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. The group's Distributorship Division distributes and trades a multitude of electronic components, predominantly Integrated Circuits, most of which are sourced locally. Many of the group's electronic components are used in the manufacture of consumer electronics, Internet terminals and routers as well as communication devices and media players. The group's Solutions Business involves the design, development and sale of solutions packages for electronic devices, such as netbooks, and hand-held tablet devices). Kada's Media Platform Business is based on a technology which enables wireless multimedia dissemination and monitoring with applications that can be deployed via a 3G network. For example, Kada has designed a Wireless Taxi Media solution which is a small display terminal, mounted on a taxi's front passenger headrest that disseminates multimedia information and advertising programmes for passengers.

The major selling point of the company's gum seems to be that it is easily removable, which will please local authorities across the globe. Coffee and fags consumers might be interested to learn the company is planning to market nicotine and caffeine gum in the near future, while there are also plans to expand beyond the gum market into cosmetics, detergents, adhesives and personal care. Revolymer was founded by Dr Roger Pettman and Professor Terence Cosgrove, initially to capitalise on technology developed at The University of Bristol. Revolymer UK was incorporated as a limited company in 2005 and was assigned a family of patents from Bristol University relating to the Rev7 polymer technology. Currently, Revolymer has a portfolio of 11 patent families, nine trade mark families and employs 34 people, of whom 23 are employed in product development roles and eight hold PhDs, each with an average of over 20 years' polymer experience.

Confectionery gum maker Revolymer made its début on AIM on June 10th after successfully completing a placing of 25m ordinary shares. The shares were placed with institutional shareholders at 100p each, raising £25m. Based on the placing price, the market capitalisation of the company at the time of flotation was therefore around £53m. Proceeds from the placing will largely be used to expand the distribution of the firm's confectionery gum products in the USA and Europe, as well as to fund additional regulatory dossiers in connection with the commercialisation of nicotine gum. The group has also ear-marked some of the funds to developer what it calls "consumer specialities products".

The company has yet to have a JORC (Joint Ore Resources and Reserves Committee) assessment done on its assets, but previous non-JORC assessments have indicated the areas possess 14.5m ounces of silver with an average grade in excess of 600 grams per tonne. Historically, the Conjecture mine has produced more than 80,000 ounces of silver at more than 220g/t going back over 100 years with no significant activity since the 1970s. The AU$16m-valued Aussie company is not raising any fresh capital through its AIM flotation, being debt free and with some AU$3.8m in cash in the company coffers. The strategy is to start producing silver as quickly as possible to generate "robust" cash flows and operating margins. The drilling programme will delineate JORC resources and, hopefully, identify new resources on historically untested ground in the project areas.

Aussie-listed silver miner Black Mountain Resources, which operates in Montana and Idaho in the USA, has started trading on London's AIM as it seeks to broaden its international base prior to accelerating the company's growth strategy. The company is already close to starting production, having picked up a 70% stake in three projects in parts of the USA which will conjure up images of old Wild West films. The Conjecture Project in Idaho, and the Tabor and New Departure projects, both in Montana, all have extensive history of exploration, development and mining undertaken by previous owners, and diamond drilling programmes are already underway at the New Departure and Conjecture projects. Black Mountain hopes to have both projects producing by the end of this year.

The Chairman of trading systems developer Fidessa Group, John Hamer, topped up his holding in the firm with the purchase of 10,000 shares on the same day the company reported that its top line growth for the first half came in below forecasts. Hamer, who joined the firm in 1983, purchased the shares at 1,408.55p each, handing over a total of £140,855. He now owns 85,131 shares in the company, equal to 0.23% of the issued share capital. The company blamed the slowdown of growth on falling sales in Europe, which it said dampened revenues at the group level. Revenues rose 3% during the six months to June 30th from £137m to £141.3m, short of Peel Hunt's £144m estimate. At constant currency, growth would have been 2%. Asian revenues jumped by 18% and accounted for 17% of total revenue, whilst the Americas grew by 10% (37% of group revenue) and Europe decreased by 6% (46% of group revenue). Pre-tax profits increased by 4% from £20.9m to £21.7m. The group raised its interim dividend by 4% from 12p per share to 12.5p per share. Following the results, Jefferies maintained its hold recommendation and 1,510p target on the stock, Merchant Securities kept its buy rating, while Investec put its target price under review and maintained its sell rating.

Pre-tax profits were up 33% to £266m as sales rose 16% to £3.46bn. This allowed the company to push up the interim dividend 20% on the year before, to 2.4p. However, the results were flattered by the impact of the 2011 fire at the Gallatin metal plant in Tennessee. Turner, who became a board member in 2009, now holds a total of 260,000 shares in the company, equal to 0.016% of the issued share capital.

"The Middle East has seen delays in projects coming to market, constraining our anticipated headcount growth, and reaching client agreement on various contract variations. In addition, we continue to experience more onerous contract payment terms on some of our current government and infrastructure work. "Maintaining our focus on project selection and the close management of ongoing variation orders remains critical to our financial success in the region. We continue to forecast headcount growth across the region during the remainder of the financial year. "While the group's geographic and sector diversification continues to provide resilience, the outlook for the group's overall performance for the full year is slightly below previous expectations." It was by no means all bad news however, with the Asia Pacific and Europe business securing good contract wins in the period including projects on the third runway for the Hong Kong airport authority and the Lindingo tram line in Sweden. The UK region also had a good start to the year and is now mobilising resources in the rail business following the award of two signalling frameworks in January. It was also pleased that the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are providing an "invaluable opportunity" for it to showcase its engineering design and planning skills.

Dr Uwe Krueger, the Chief Executive Officer of WS Atkins, the FTSE 250 design and engineering consultancy, doubled his stake in the company on the same day it was forced to issue a profit warning. Kruegar, who has occupied his role for one year, added another 10,000 shares to his previous holding of 10,053, at 673p each. The announcement was made after trading hours on Thursday. The warning, which knocked almost 10% off the firm's share price, was given after additional costs and a volume shortfall occurred in the Peter Brown construction management at risk business, which resulted in an increased loss for the current year. The firm also experienced difficulties in North America, which were further affected by a number of project delays as uncertainty increases ahead of the US presidential election in November. "We do not expect an improvement in the trading environment during the remainder of this financial year and, as a result, we have taken action to further reduce headcount to reflect anticipated market demand," the company said.

A consistent history of losses means e-Therapeutics (ETX) is not a stock for widows and orphans but those who speculate to accumulate might like to get involved as the £47 million cap continues to build its product pipeline. Based in Oxford and Newcastle, the firm is a pioneer in network pharmacology. While conventional drug development focuses on finding one single protein, network analysis looks to determine the set of proteins most critical in any disease, and then develop chemical biology to identify molecules capable of targeting them. One drug has already gone in to a Phase I trial this year, ETS2101 for glioma and other cancers. A Phase I trial for MRSA infection product ETX1153a and Phase IIb depressive disorder drug ETS6103 are both scheduled for later this year. Good news here should give the shares a timely boost. The firm has yet to generate any sales, let alone a profit, since its November 2007 flotation and pre-tax losses have ranged between £2 million and £4 million a year. Consensus does not expect a break-even result in either of the next two years, through to January 2014, but a net cash pile of £13.9 million offers a valuable buffer.

Varisolve is undergoing Phase III trials and cancer products Paragon Bead and Precision Bead stand at Phase II. BTG is focussed on three business areas: specialty pharmaceuticals, interventional medicine and licensing and biotechnology. The company develops its own products, but also in-licenses or acquires them from other firms.

A growing revenue stream from existing products and a solid pipeline of new treatments nearing trial completion, including varicose veins drug Varisolve, more than justify BTG's (BTG) premium valuation. A prospective price/earnings ratio for the year to March 2013 of 42.1 times will deter many investors, but consensus estimates suggest the FTSE 250 firm's pre-tax profits will double between 2012 and 2014. This mighty profit momentum stems from a broad product pipeline, which encompasses a treatment for snakebites, antidotes to treat toxicity associated with medicines used for heart conditions and cancer, and interventional oncology products that are used to treat patients with liver or prostate tumours. Renal treatment drug Voraxaze received US regulatory approval in January and launched at the end of April. A final $22 million milestone payment from US giant Pfizer (PFE) for haemophilia B drug BeneFIX further boosts the £1.3 billion cap's coffers which already bulge with £112 million in net cash.