News

October 10, 2008

Noventa Bores The Market To Tears

By Alastair Ford

Mozambique is a great place to go on holiday. The beaches are long and sandy, the sea is warm, the snorkelling is stupendous, and the sun shines brightly enough, even in wintertime. What’s more, following two decades of civil war at the end of the last century the country is gradually getting itself sorted out. Roads are being re-laid, the north and the south of the country are connected once more, power is on the way, mobile phone networks have gone in, and so have mining companies.

Still, a recovering economy does not a company make, as a glance at Noventa’s share price graph will show. Over the last twelve months Noventa’s shares have more than halved in the wake of a series of troubling updates, and indifference about the tantalum market. The 175p year high was hit in November last year, so we are not just talking about a spate of weakness over the summer, although September’s not been kind to the company either. It dropped 10 per cent on Tuesday 30th alone, closing out...