Making up the numbers

WHILE junior explorers dominated the 10 best-performing Western Australian stocks last financial year, was there a defining characteristic that bound together the worst performers for the year?

A lack of scale would seem to be one possibility, with the 10 poorest performers in the annual WA Business News Total Shareholder Return Survey all ending the year with a market capitalisation of less than $11 million.

Worst performer for the year was former seafood processing group Sam's Seafood Holdings, which turned in a negative TSR of 98.4 per cent as its shares sank to just 0.8 cents. The Queensland-focused commercial fishing and processing business is now eyeing coal exploration in Indonesia as its best hope for the future.

The second worst performer on the list was Cityview Corporation with a negative TSR of 96.2 per cent, reflecting investor unease over its multi-commodity focus in the historically unstable nation of Angola.

Little-known interactive and digital advertising group Q Limited was the third worst performer with a negative TSR of 93.5 per cent, despite actually posting 45 per cent higher profit of $774,000 on a growing revenue base in 2008-09.

Similarly, education seminar group Capital Intelligences failed to impress with a negative TSR of 91.6 per cent.

Junior explorers Newland Resources, Mantle Mining, Centaurus Resources, and Ram Resources all had a shocking year, with negative TSRs of 92.6 per cent, 91.2 per cent, 91.2 per cent and 90.4 per cent respectively.

The WA government's initial failure to allocate funds for an upgraded power line between Perth and Eneabba was a factor in the poor performance of Mid West power proponent Aviva Corporation, which posted a negative TSR of 91.2 per cent.

Oil junior Norwest booked a negative TSR of 90.1 per cent following start-up problems at the Puffin oilfield in the Timor Sea, in which it has a small royalty interest.