The ratio of debt to equity capital. If a balance sheet shows £5 million of total assets and a debt of £4 million, the gearing is 80%. A very highly geared business is living dangerously. As in a car, high gearing can produce dashing performances - but leads to problems when you have to climb a steep hill.

See pearl.

Ambitious businesses sometimes aspire to going public - becoming a quoted company. However, there are directors of quoted companies who feel so frustrated by the short-termism of stock market investors that they turn themselves back into a private company.

Share with unusual rights, often allowing exiting/minority shareholders disproportionate control or rights to future capital proceeds.

The value of a business over and above its tangible assets. It includes the business's reputation and contacts. See also intellectual property.

This has been described as small companies' equivalent of big companies' rights issues on the stock market. It is the long-term equity capital raised to allow a company to grow ambitiously without relying wholly on short-term bank debt.