TAKING STOCK

o Slimma, the fashion group, held at 59p, a year's low. Henry Cooke, Lumsden, the stockbroker, believes that the shares are worth buying up to 90p. First-half profits fell from pounds 535,000 to pounds 210,000 and year's figures will, it believes, show a drop from more than pounds 1m to pounds 550,000. Next year's outcome, however, should be a pounds 1m profit and its analyst, Peter Dzedzora, says that the shares' fall from 115p this year has been overdone.

o Trio Holdings, the money broker that takes in the Martin Bierbaum operation, is having a torrid time. Earlier this year it raised pounds 6.5m through a cash call at 25p. The shares, once more than 81p, fell 3p to 9p yesterday, with the market clearly growing increasingly perplexed about figures, due soon.