Second liners set for turn in the sun

Private investors, whose appetite for shares has been whetted by the poor return from low interest rates, could provide some comfort for the management of small capitalisation stocks.

According to Mr Frank O'Brien of Investment Strategies, secondline companies - which have seen share prices collapse as investors target pan-European shares following the introduction of the single currency - need to be more proactive in finding alternative buyers.

And among those potential alternative purchasers are private buyers, US and British investors and their European counterparts.

Mr O'Brien says that addressing them will have obvious implications for dividend policy, funding policy and investor relations generally.

He adds: "It is clearly not in anybody's interest - investment institution, corporate, client pension fund - to see Irish stock indiscriminately sold at knockdown valuations and the proceeds switched into highly rated, but slower growing European companies."

According to Mr O'Brien, the recent under performance of smaller capitalisation companies - while seeming to confirm fears that they would suffer most during the euro adjustment process - is part of a global trend which now shows some signs of reversing.