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DMGT sale of EDR prices in growth of ZERO
When DMGT acquired EDR twenty years ago, it must have seemed an exciting proposition, being described at the time as a “leading provider of geographical based environmental risk management information in the US”, particularly given the possible synergies with DMGT’s risk management and catastrophe modelling operations such as RMS. Twenty years later however, revenues have […]
Continue readingWPP – once more unto the breach
Having traded out of the stock with a +19% relative gain in the run up to their FY17 results, I didn’t expect to get an opportunity so soon to step back into this one, but with the shares approaching 1,200p (closed 1,204p), that is what I am doing. While there isn’t an immediate catalyst now […]
Continue readingShrek gazumps Mickey & Murdoch
Perhaps the cunning plan was to absorb Sky while still carrying a hefty risk premium ahead of the all important Premier League (PL) football rights negotiations and then reap the benefit when these were renewed for what turned out to be -14%/-£199m pa reduction. Unfortunately, with 21st Century Fox’s (21CF) bid stranded with the UK […]
Continue readingWPP – position closed with a +19% relative gain (>+330% annualised ;-)
Add a bit of mean reversion to GrowthRatings, with a healthy pinch of recency bias and you can have a wild ride in these menopausal markets. For example, three weeks ago on this blog I highlighted the unloved Agency sector and in particular WPP. Those listening to what some key marketeers were saying about their […]
Continue readingWPP – friendless & unloved – perfect!
Not all marketing investment seems wasted. After P&G’s earlier withering criticism of its digital marketing ROI, Diageo’s Q2 report yesterday, delivering a combination of rising A&P investment, organic sales growth and underlying operating margins, suggests a more nuanced approach may be needed by investors to the industry’s current problems. Faced with an unsolicited approach from […]
Continue readingAre equity markets expensive?
This is a regular question posed by investors and market commentators, but in many ways is also the most meaningless. This is because the relative merits of equities as an asset class owes more to the ebb and flow of liquidity to goose demand, rather than some theoretical notion of a ‘correct’ valuation that should […]
Continue readingBitcoin pyramid – a child of its time
There’s something almost comical about the law of unintended consequences. After nearly a decade of central bank intervention and manipulation of the market pricing of capital, should we be surprised that Bitcoin is now worth more than Proctor & Gamble? Having destroyed the market’s pricing of risk and replaced it with the moral hazard of […]
Continue readingApple (aapl) – where to now?
It’s difficult to get overly excited with the shares. Having briefly rallied after the better than expected Q3 results, the long awaited new product launches do little to resolve the big question and the shares are back below their relative market level when I closed the GrowthRater long position back on 13 May, for a 29% […]
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