Silicon Fen shares the pain as £1.6 billion wiped off the value of top ten firms in past month
When there is panic afoot in markets, it tends to be indiscriminate because no-one can predict where the proximate cause of the panic is leading.
Such is the case at the moment. There is not a share market expert extant who can predict with any degree of confidence where the current credit crisis will lead. Can it be contained before it inflicts severe damage on the so-called real economy? An honest advisor would have to say "search me".
In the meantime, the top listed companies with headquarters in the Cambridge Cluster of high tech companies, in the region sometimes known as Silicon Fen, have seen their share prices mauled, along with the rest of the stock market.
The market capitalisation of the top ten has been cut by £1.64 billion in the past 30 days, almost 30% of their value in early September.
Top ranked Autonomy Corporation, global player in sophisticated search technology for enterprises and government agencies, is down 30% to £1.57 billion. Number 2 ARM Holdings, leading chip designers, is down 21% to £1.16 billion.
There's a large gap to number 3, engineering project management software specialists, the AVEVA Group. This high performing firm has seen its market cap slide 41% to £512m.
Notable for its small slide is online antibody marketer Abcam, which is down just 2% and is now the 6th largest high tech company by market capitalisation.
The only other firm in the top ten to record a fall of less than 20% over the past month was LED lighting specialists Dialight, down 16% to £42m.
Top 10 performances over the past 30 days:
Autonomy, down 30% to £1.57 billion
ARM, down 21% to £1.16 billion
AVEVA, down 41% to £512m
CSR, down 37% to £253m
Domino Printing, down 21% to £233m
Abcam, down 2% to £168m
Sepura, down 30% to £70m
Dialight, down 16% to £42m
Xaar, down 36% £42m
Meldex International, down 40% to £42m.
