Just when everyone was speculating that a few well-known names were hogging the Supershare limelight, then pow!

Zooming in from 45th over the weekend to topple Sonja Fenning from the top spot is Keith Pagdin, proprietor of Jorvik Building Services - and the whole kaleidoscope pattern of the Top 100 has drastically altered.

Ironically, Sonja, former overall champion in 1992, plummeted to virtually swop places with Keith at number 46.

Keith, 54, of Jorvick Close, Acomb, was delighted when he received his cheque and two £5 coins for being a daily winner from Supershare sponsors Walsh Lucas & Company, the independent financial advisers of Micklegate, York.

He said: "Ask anyone who knows me and they'll say 'Keith will sort you out when it comes to money'. To think that my entry has beaten around 19,000 others. It's fantastic. Brilliant. "

"I do have some investments in stocks and shares but they are managed funds. I keep an eye on them but I don't follow the stock market every day."

Clearly, though, canniness is on his side. After all, didn't he have the foresight to buy two houses years ago for £25,000 then do them up? Now they are worth £80,000. Against that his achievement in turning his £10,000 of fantasy Supershare investment into £11,728.37 pales by comparison.

"Now I really have my eye on the £2,000 overall winner's prize or the £1,000 runner-up prize at the end of the month. But I don't play this daily win down. It's a real honour," he said.

Runner-up, a mere £18.21 away from the value of Keith's portfolio, is Bob Watts, of Balfour Street, York. Yes, you do know that name. Bob, twice a daily winner in a previous Supershare, was an early daily winner in this competition. It seems you can't keep a good portfolio down...

And the fact that P Brown, of Fairfield Drive, Skelton, took both fourth and fifth places confirms the chilly truth - that Iceland was the Supershare plc that shook out old hopes and brought in new ones.

The share has been making steady progress over the past few days but it leaped 10p to 180, perhaps in anticipation of really good annual results which were expected today. (TUES)

And that was against the tide, reports Barrie Bluck, of Leeds stockbrokers Redmayne Bentley. He said: "There was a huge 66 point rise as a result of early morning dealings, but it was whittled away with profit taking until finally the market finished 9.3 down, hovering just below the magic 6,000 barrier at 5,947."

Other significant Supershare plc results: Cadbury Schweppes up 14p to 834p. Tesco down 17p to 552.5. British Gas or BG up 15p to 314.75. Railtrack down 21p to 978.5. Kingfisher up by 12p to 1140. Next up by 21p to 726. General Accident down by 13p to 1474. And Yorkshire Water up by eight pence to 538p.

With just a week to go, there is still everything to play for. So keep buying your copies of the Evening Press to enter. Remember, for every wipeout, there is a flow-in. The secret is to time it so that your entry is ahead on the final day!

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.