Chemeq tops Deloitte WA index

Western Australian biotech Chemeq has topped a Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu index highlighting the market performance of WA listed companies over the last two years.

The Deloitte Western Australian Stock Exchange Index described Chemeq, which listed in 1999, as the "rising star" of the last two years, after the company's market capitalisation leapt from $13 million in June 2000 to $184 million in June this year - an increase of 1315 per cent.

Chemeq is involved in R&D, manufacturing and marketing of antimicrobials. In June, it announced that independent trials of its CHEMEQ polymeric antimicrobial increased growth rates in chickens. The company is currently building a commercial-scale production facility at Kwinana, south of Perth, at a cost of $25 million.

In the report, Deloittes said WA's economy had grown faster than that of any other state over the past two years, averaging 5 per cent GDP growth annually compared with a national average of 2.8 per cent. The market capitalisation of WA listed companies has grown by 19 per cent over the two years to June 2002, while the ASX All Ordinaries Index has decreased by 3 per cent over the same period.

Chemeq is ranked 25th of WA's top 50 listed companies.