If you own a laptop, vacuum cleaner or television, it is likely that at least part of it was produced by Volex, a maker of high-spec cables.
The AIM-listed company, which traces its roots to the 1890s, also makes cables for charging electric cars and scanners in hospitals, and wiring for data centres.
Cables have become big business, helping Volex to transform from a small-cap horror story to one of the bright lights of London’s junior market. Until a few years ago, it had been all but written off. The share price fell from a high of £20 in 2000 to a low of 39p in 2003, a drop of 98 per cent. This prompted a switch to medical and industrial sectors.
It was the