Professor Glen Arnold

(All the earlier Newsletters on the Buffett investment journey are available – just search under “Buffett”) The Wesco story is most interesting, not for the subsequent success of the original business, but for the clever things that Buffett and Charlie Munger did with the resources held within the firm over the following 30 years outside […]

If we look at the cash flow elements in Airea’s (LSE:AIEA) annual reports we find that in arriving at operating profit the company has annual deduction for depreciation of between £0.83m and £1.163m. This is largely a legacy of being a much bigger company with plenty of fixed assets (it was called Sirdar). The depreciation […]

It was a difficult decision to make, after all they reported earnings per share of around 3p, dividend yield of 5%, operating profit up by 86% at £2m, and a strong balance sheet. The shares were trading at 31p – 33p, merely 11 times the reported earnings. Given further growth in the economy and increased […]

Buying these shares at 11.95p in November 2014 and selling them this week at 30.9p has resulted in a 166% return if you chuck in the dividend of 0.9p. It seems that some deep value shares take a frustratingly long time to come to maturity (if they ever do), but others, like Airea (LSE:AIEA), shoot […]

I’ve sold some of my shares in Northamber (LSE:NAR) at 30.9p in fear that the 71-year old Chairman, David Phillips will never see the light, especially now that his son, Alex, is “Strategic Director”. He has been trying out new ideas for two years. Perhaps he has to make a few more attempts before being […]

For years I’ve tried to persuade the founder and dominant shareholder of Northamber (LSE:NAR), David Phillips, that the most risk-strewn path for shareholders is to keep on desperately trying to get back to profits in the operating business. The company remains a small player in an industry with very poor economics, no pricing power vis-à-vis […]

Over the years, PV Crystalox’s (LSE:PVCS) reneging customers, or their receivers, have been attacked by PVCS’s directors using the law (expensive lawyers, but apparently effective). This has resulted in some impressive cheques being handed over to PV Crystalox. In 2014 one paid €8.7m for failure to abide by a contract. The 2012 pay out from […]

This company, in all probability, is going out of business. When this became even more likely a couple of weeks ago, following publication of the interim results, the share price rose! This is perfectly rational; there is more value to be had by ceasing operations. As a shareholder, I fully support the directors in aiming […]

In his 1986 letter to Berkshire shareholders Buffett pointed out the virtues of holding shares for many years, if not decades. Such an attitude provides: A buttress against following the Wall Street fad of the moment pushing you to dump shares. Strength of mind when confronted with temporary operating problems, preventing irrational fear, and maintenance […]

In Buffett’s 1985 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders he observes how foolish Mr Market can be, the importance of strong media industry franchises and his willingness to hold much loved companies even if future returns are destined to be less than they gave in the past: “We bought all of our WPC holdings in mid-1973 […]