Web-based bookie Sportingbet (LSE: SBT) tickled investors with a third-quarter profit boost driven by active European and Australian gambling markets.

Following close on the heels of my article ‘AIM – The Exodus Begins’ (May 20th) in which I criticised the London Stock Exchange for chasing new entrants to AIM rather than taking care of those companies already there, it has come up with a new initiative which it promises can offer the latter ‘huge value’.

Around this time last year, the nation’s investment experts all started to point out how cheap the big FTSE 100 stocks looked and to suggest that we all switched out of smaller companies and into blue chips.

Alberto Bailleres obviously hopes that 1 and 1 will make not 2, but 3, 4 or even 5! The Mexican billionaire owns the giant diversified mining and chemical group, Penoles. Penoles has floated part of its business on London’s stock market.