The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
Maybe Zig and Zag the nineties Irish puppet duo? What a daft name and waste of money. Redde Northgate sounds far better than Zigup.
Good set of results, growing business, solid proven model, cash generative and profitable, yet the markets beat the price down two days in a row. Meanwhile speculative garbage like Darktrace with a crackpot tech PE ratio gets bought out at an inflated price, what a crazy world we live in.
As a DOCS LTH, I am fuming. I thought all the bad news was out in the dreadful January update and the series of preceding poor updates. Yet they had even more bad news to come, this one really blindsided me especially as a trading update wasn't even due today. The markets hate it when companies drip feed bad news and DOCS will have to work hard to regain investor's trust, also it's laughable that they are spending more money to retain talent, managers who couldn't organise the proverbial in a brewery. These US issues have been festering for 2 years now and they still haven't sorted them out. I'm not convinced by the new CEO appointment, he's inexperienced and a branding man who will happily fritter away cash on marketing, what we need is a battle hardened nuts and bolts CEO right now. I'm certain this will recover but when and how I have no idea.
I did well from Wincanton as well. I'm up to my eyeballs in Doc and can't see any takeover deal Permira still have a stake and it has been private already. Wood Group could be a target again, Apollo had a go last year and Hunting may get an offer but looks pricey right now. Also have a look at Redde Northgate, very nice PE ratio or one of the specialist insurers (Beazley, Lancashire) as there's ongoing consolidation in the insurance sector. Hochschild could get snapped up as well, though it looks like a long shot. DYOR as this is all my wild speculation.
Crazy, another solid and profitable UK (and now global) business that should be flying. Perhaps they need to change their name to WHSTech or Smith AI & Blockchain, appoint a CEO just out of primary school, develop a product and business model that nobody understands and then consistently lose millions every quarter. Then the share price would fly, we'd have naive US investors crawling all over it and Sunak and Hunt telling the world what a great British company it was.
Wincanton continues to disappoint, it looked like it was trucking back to £3 a few weeks ago but the price has broken down of late. It's a shame as it's a solid cash generative business, great brand, low PE and management have been very honest with the markets over worsening trading conditions. Looking at the horrible spreads on this right now and the poor sentiment in the markets they'll have to release a blockbuster RNS to generate more interest in buying so it can motor back to a fairer price. In the meantime I'll top up cheaply where possible and hold on for a bumpy ride.