Our insights

Prospects

Winter Issue Thirteen

In this issue

The Group is steered by the steady hand of Tony Pidgley, CBE. Pidgley left school aged 15 to form his own business in haulage and plant hire. Just four years later, he sold to Crest Homes and became a…

Ben Stanton discusses life as a wealth manager.

Prior to the last 15 years, this sector was incredibly opaque and retail banks were the only route to transacting one currency for another.

We also met the companies below and you can learn more on any of these by contacting the person at JM Finn & Co with whom you usually deal.

Monet’s monumental canvases of his water garden painted in the last decade of his life – the ‘Grandes Décorations’ (1914-26) – are the ultimate expression of the symbiosis between his garden and his…

Yorkshire Rows, an all-women rowing team, who have recently become the first women to row across the North Sea, are taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Rowing Race from La Gomera in the Canary…

The results of the annual survey by Citywire to find the industry’s top fund pickers, were recently announced and we were delighted that two of our investment managers were featured this year. 

Our CSR objective is to raise funds for two chosen charities, each of which we would look to support for a minimum of three years, in order to provide meaningful funds and to make a difference. We try…

He previously worked for Windsor Asset Management and Jupiter Asset Management before helping to found New Star.

Frankly, we Blue Buttons were little more than messenger boys for the authorised clerks – or dealers – and Stock Exchange members on the floor of the exchange. We checked prices, kept an eye open for…

When I sit down to write this column I usually do so with a bright and unique insight in my mind. I aim for a conclusion that will craft sense and direction from the noise and chaff that clouds our…

Understanding Finance

Accountants provide us with something that they call Cashflow from Operations, which is pretty much what the widget machines produce in terms of net cash, after paying interest and tax. This is set…

Yet her welcoming of 800,000 refugees from the Middle East (and elsewhere) into Germany, however morally pleasing, is causing serious ructions, both domestically and among her European partners. 

By today’s standards, it is hard to understand the controversy.

Equity prospects

01.

PZ Cussons (PZ) is a global FMCG company, owning well-known brands such as Imperial Leather, Carex, and Original Source, to name a few.

02.

J Sainsbury is a leading UK grocery chain. After a generation of growth in retail space, the UK grocery market is in excess supply and suffering a price war as ultra low cost competitors enter. J…

03.

Howden is a well run cyclical company benefiting from a strong UK building market. Earnings have been growing well in excess of 10% for a number of successive quarters. 2014 was the best year for…

04.

Negative like-for-like sales of some -4% for the first time since 2009 caused recent disappointment at Burberry. This was despite concerted 4% growth in the nascent brand entry level route of Beauty.…