Master Investors

Gone is the helicopter money. Gone is the quantitative easing that supported U.K. plc, the general public and retail investors. What is here is volatility and the challenges high inflation presents.

Charles White-Thomson is chief executive of Saxo Markets UK, and he assures investors they can navigate this new economic paradigm not just by demanding more from their wealth managers but adjusting their own attitude to risk.

"It's all about risk management and understanding that your portfolio has many gears. It is not just long only. It is not just driving in the fourth gear. There are many things that we can do in order to tackle what is a pretty challenging environment."

White-Thomson says money can be made on the downside if there's portfolio diversification, and sage advice gleaned from those who have experience of emerging markets.

He argues there are ways to 'play inflation' including investing in commodities and gaining exposure to water and agriculture - both important solution providers to an imminent food and cost of living crisis if the naysayers are to be believed.

White-Thomson argues there is opportunity for the proactive and those who own their portfolio and don’t fall into the moral hazard trap inadvertently created by central bankers.

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In the second part of this hour long two-part Q and A Jonathan Davis and Terry Smith, manager of the index-busting Fundsmith Equity Fund, discuss the fund's performance, why it was down sharply in the first half of 2022 after twelve consecutive years of positive returns, where it goes next and the future for its big tech and consumer holdings in particular.

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In the first part of this hour long two-part Q and A Jonathan Davis and Terry Smith, founder and CEO of Fundsmith, as outspoken as ever, discuss bear markets, parallels with the 1970s, central bank mistakes and likely future market direction. 

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

It has been an eventful year so far for Tech Investing, Jonathan Davis find out what the LTC looks for and what they expect from the future.

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

For 30 years tech company D4t4 Solutions Plc (LON:D4T4) has helped organisations get the best value from all their data assets. It's been recognised for its service winning many awards including Technology Company of the Year in the 2022 Small Cap Awards. 

 

The company operates in 27 countries, and as chief executive officer Bill Bruno explains the business mantra is applicable to customers everywhere - to help organisations better leverage data to make decisions, manage the ever evolving landscape of data privacy and help brands be the best stewards of their customer data.

 

It’s a big responsibility and Bruno, who was handpicked to take over as CEO by business founder Peter Kear, is confident any competition is unable to compete at the level D4t4 can with “its technologies that do phenomenal things for customers,” including its pioneering data capture and contextualization platform that puts security and privacy compliance first.  

 

As a cash generative, profitable business D4t4 recently rewarded investors with a special dividend, and an increase in the standard payout. Bruno doesn’t make any promises about more special dividends, but is confident about the company’s future describing it as one “that is growing in a market that has the potential for further growth.”

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Liontrust’s microcap fund had a great year in 2021, significantly outperforming its benchmark and gaining 33.6%. Alex Wedge tells Jonathan Davis what they look for in an investment and how the fund maintains a balanced portfolio.

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Open Orphan PLC (AIM:ORPH) was the first contract research organisation (CRO) to conduct a Covid challenge trial, and in the words of chief executive Yamin 'Mo' Khan, it now has approximately 90% of the market in challenge studies whereby "we inoculate each healthy volunteer with a virus and then we test the drug under quarantine conditions."

That’s a unique USP, and Mo talks about how the business has divested into new streams of revenue such as offering clinical site services to customers, and challenge models including asthma and malaria.

The last set of results showed a 76% increase in revenue and almost a £9 million swing on EBITDA, and chief financial officer Leo Toole says "we see strong potential to continue that kind of growth into future periods with the company aiming to deliver double digit EBITDA percentage points in terms of revenue and profitability."

Toole says booking off revenue for 2023 is almost finished, and the planning horizon is now stretching into 2024.

Both he and Khan are frustrated with the share price particularly as the backlog order book is worth approximately £65 million pounds which is close to the company’s current (June 2022) market cap. Khan concludes that "as we continue to grow and we build we’ll see a much stronger future and a much improved share price."

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

As it approaches its 36th birthday, Nigel Newton CBE the founder and chief executive of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (LON:BMY), says the publisher has "Never been a more fun company to run and to work at."

 

One of the reasons for that he says is: "Success breeds success, and this 41% growth in sales that we’ve seen over the last two years and 70% increase in profits is a joy to manage."

 

Newton says that the reading habit re-engaged with during lockdown has been "permanently reacquired" and that the company is trading in line with management expectations which he says are "high expectations."

 

He talks not only about the joy of management but at the core of the business the joy of reading aiding those who are now pursuing hobbies that are well serviced by books.  

 

Bloomsbury, says Newton, is an unusual publisher describing it as half general, half academic which is platform agnostic selling authors’ works in hardback, paperback and e-book and as an audio book download. "We promote the story and leave the decision to how to consume it to the reader."

 

It is also the leading publisher of ornithology and sailing and one of the lead publishers for baking.  At its most fundamental level, says Newton, books are filling a new information need and there’s reading itself for ‘escape, enlightenment and entertainment.’

 

Bloomsbury is also a beneficiary of the self-publishing phenomenon with many of its authors starting out on that route including internationally renowned fantasy writer Sarah J Maas, who is also much recommended by the TikTok subcommunity #BookTok which has had over 60 billion interactions as of June 2022.

 

Beloved by readers, Newton says that the company’s dividend policy makes it much beloved too by investors particularly growth funds in the city.  

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Neal Gandhi founded TPXimpact Holdings (AIM: TPX) with a mission to reduce, and eventually eradicate the bureaucracy that paralyses government programmes at local and central level.

The company is a technology-enabled services company focused on digital transformation which in Gandhi’s words: “Empower our teams at the edge to get the job done without bureaucracy.”

TPX does that, he says, by pulling together multi-disciplinary teams, to create solutions that work and deliver against the goal for companies. He adds it’s about sharing findings, ensuring great value for taxpayers with the ultimate goal of benefiting society.

The client list is impressive and includes DEFRA, the Food Standards Agency and the NHS. TPX counts 50 of the largest 160 local authorities as its clients, and commercial customers include Legal & General and HSBC.

While society benefits, Gandhi wants to make sure shareholders do too. He says the business is incredibly cash generative, and on a run rate basis his and the team’s goal is to deliver £200 million revenue by March 2025.

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In our latest podcast, Mark Slater, founder of Slater Investments, and manager of the Slater Growth and Slater Recovery funds, talks bear markets and stock opportunities in conversation with Jonathan Davis.

For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.