The worldwide contagion enveloping literally every quoted market isn't bad news for every sector.

Shorting bank shares seems to have become as commonplace as placing a bet in the local bookies for some people.

Meanwhile spread betting, where a bet is layed on the direction of a share or other security without actually owning it, is very popular with Irish investors who may want to avoid paying stockbroker fees. This trading also means you don't have to worry about dividends or attending annual general meetings.

Of course a strong caveat has always to be entered in relation to spread betting – you can lose large amounts of money unless you instruct your provider to set up a 'stop loss' – an agreement to cap your losses at a certain agreed point.

The Irish company Worldspreads Group, set up eight years ago, is one of the few listed companies operating in this area. It shares are flat on the year to date on London's AIM market, which is a strong performance for 2008 considering the slippages elsewhere. The stock is quite volatile and it has hit highs of 113p before.

With a small market value of aproximately £32m, its shareholders meeting of this week is unlikely to be packed out, but it does have some reasonably big institutional shareholders on its register like AXA. The biggest shareholder is chief executive Conor Foley, who holds a stake of about 18%. The shares floated at 47 pence so clearly those who came in on the ground floor are in the money now.

With an expansion under way in Asia the company's shareholders are unlikely to be too hard on Foley and Co when the meeting takes place. One of Worldspread's chief competitors IG recently put it bluntly – market volatility means more bets.

Most of those looking at the spread betting companies track what IG is saying and its recent three month trading update was very upbeat with first quarter revenue up 29%. Ironically when you consider what is happening with the Irish banks, its bad debts levels actually fell.