track record: notable B.C. companies by stock performance

GOOD RUN Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. TSX:TKM +24.7% (October) This Vancouver biotech is still a long way from bringing a product to market, but investors gave it a shot of confidence in October. Shares jumped 48 per cent early in the month in anticipation of a corporate update, which would confirm positive results from early-stage drug trials and outline a schedule of continued trials in 2014. Shares bumped upward again late in the month following news of a US$34-million share placement.BAD RUN Fortress Paper Ltd. TSX:FTP -17.6% (October) Two years after spending $150 million to convert a Quebec pulp mill to produce dissolving pulp, a material used in clothing and other consumer products, Fortress Paper announced it had determined that the mill’s original output—pulp used to make paper—makes more sense in current market conditions. In November the company would announce that it had been hit by a 13 per cent duty on dissolving pulp imposed by China, its primary export market. •