A dash of derring-do marked this month's buying spree by RICH members whose units twitched upwards by 4p this month.

They sunk about a third of their available cash in MMI - Medical Marketing International - a venture capital funding group just launched on the AIM market.

Speculative perhaps, but the company has a biotech business incubator building in Cambridge, much like the ones built at the Science City innovation park at York University, and aims to take stakes in the most promising tenants, as well as rent.

It also has a research and consulting business which carries out the diligence work on behalf of universities, companies and NHS Trusts, advising on the commercial value of technologies.

Now the company is working with universities on developing technology both in the UK and the US.

RICH members shunned all talk of £153 million pre-tax loss for the Arcadia Group and spent another third of available funds on shares in the retail group which dropped from £2.50 to around 50p in a year.

It's a calculated gamble, given the Rich members' confidence in Stuart Rose, former chief executive of the Iceland Group, who has just taken the tiller. He has a good reputation for turning around businesses and a major rationalisation programme for Arcadia includes plans to offload 450 stores across its brands, such as Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, River Island, Principles and others.

When Mr Rose left the Burtons Group he was boss of Burtons menswear, Evans, Dorothy Perkins and Principles so this is familiar territory to him.

Besides, from next April RICH members will be able to monitor the effect of the changes locally when five Arcadia shops move out of their individual premises at Monks Cross and team up under a single roof at the edge-of-York shopping centre.

Burtons Menswear, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Principles and Topshop/Topman will shut up shop and move a few yards away to Outfit.

The remaining third of available funds would have been sunk into the German Post Office (Deutsche Post), an overseas flotation, but later learned that only individuals and not organisations or clubs could apply...