Professor Glen Arnold

The story I’m going to tell over the next few days shows how a talented manager can create a business with a deep and dangerous moat given enough time and dedication, even in an industry dependent on the notorious unprofitable airlines.  There are many lessons for today’s value investors. Al Ueltschi fell out of an […]

The business model of Capital and Counties Properties, Capco (LSE:CAPC) used to be much more adventurous, with stakes in various projects around London. Now it has a 50% share in a relatively small development, Lillie Square, which is getting smaller as apartments are sold. This only accounts for 6% of its assets, leaving 94% of […]

Capital and Counties, Capco (LSE:CAPC), owner of Covent Garden, is selling at less than net current asset value, and therefore appears to be a bargain.  However, Mr Market marked it down because he fears that so much rental income will be lost due to Covid-19 and property investors will demand higher yields that property values […]

Last week I paid 103.3p for shares in the owner of 81 buildings in and around Covent Garden, Capital and Counties Properties, or Capco, (LSE:CAPC). The latest set of accounts, for the half year to end June, declare a Net Asset Value per share of 241p – and that is after knocking 17% off the […]

Well over ninety percent of Capital and Counties Properties, Capco’s (LSE:CAPC) property is in or around Covent Garden. Only £178m is outside of it, so, for all intents and purposes, we need to focus on Covent Garden. (Market capitalisation when I bought on Friday was 855m shares x 103p = £881m. The vaccine has lifted […]

In terms of managerial decisions nothing really changed when Berkshire Hathaway bought R. C. Willey in 1995. The one exception was that Buffett held a veto over investments in new stores. Bill Child, CEO, told Utah Business that Warren Buffett was a wonderful partner “rather than tell us how to run our business, he gives us a […]

At the start of 1995 an investment bank approached Bill Child with an offer to buy R. C. Willey Home Furnishings. The headline figure mentioned was $200m. This followed separate approaches by two publicly traded retailers. These were totally unsolicited. After looking around stores of the two retailers and being unimpressed by the way the […]

Bill Child took a 600 sq ft store with annual revenue of $250,000 to a dominant position in Utah furniture retailing with $256m turnover. For him to succeed he had to follow sound principles to gain the trust of customers and the admiration and loyalty of employees. These are useful pointers for investors: if you […]

Bill Child looked for way to build profits of the 600 sq ft electrical store off a side road near Syracuse, Utah, that he had accidentally taken leadership of in 1954. In 1956 he hit on the idea of selling furniture – items, thankfully, without the burden of moving parts or onerous warrantees. At first, […]

When 22 year old Bill Child intended to graduate and become a teacher. Things turned out differently.  He instead built a business that was sold to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for $175m.  It had a very unpromising start. However the early days imbedded the values – and hence reputation, and then to competitive advantage – […]