Bosses of second-line stocks are understandably feeling a bit miffed at their treatment by fund managers in the super new euro environment, where investment is increasingly being directed towards the heavy-hitters.

It's hard to see what the second-liners can do about it, apart from ploughing their own lonely furrow or else doing a Jones on it and taking the company private with the backing of venture capitalists. But not everybody wants to go private and despite their neglect by fund managers, some still relish the status of being a public company.

One plc chief executive spoke to Current Account this week and had some pungent comments about fund managers' preoccupation with the euro zone and not with the good value he believes his company offers. "Fund managers seem to operate with their computers rather than their brains," he said, with not a little bitterness.

Given that this chief executive has to live in harmony with the Irish investment community, Current Account agreed that he should remain anonymous.