Episodi
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Have you ever wondered how fund managers deliver a successful long-short strategy?
David Seaman of Alpha Cygni Investment Management recently joined me for a conversation with Richard Stuckey, the manager of the Ennismore Global Equity Fund, about managing such a strategy in smaller global companies.
In this fascinating chat, Richard discusses different approaches to shorting equities and how they involve different approaches to risk management at the stock and portfolio levels. He outlines a couple of examples of stocks he and his team have successfully shorted that turned out to be deceptions.
We then discuss two long positions he recently added to his portfolio. Genus, a UK–listed animal genetics company, Genus and Paradox Interactive, a Scandinavian-listed games publisher
Richard then discusses the geographic spread of his fund and how to think about market inefficiency driven by the rise of the mega-cap tech stocks, passive investment and meme-driven markets.
And… importantly, how to adapt investment strategy in a market that can remain inefficient for a long time.
This is a masterclass in the often counterintuitive art of managing an absolute return strategy in a volatile and illiquid asset class.
While not for everyone, it can offer downside protection in choppy markets while providing long-term exposure to quality compounding equities.
I must remind you that this is only for information purposes and is NOT investment advice. The views expressed in the podcast are personal to the contributors and do not represent Progressive Equity's views.
Please enjoy our conversation with Richard Stuckey.
Made possible by Progressive Equity.
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In this episode, Progressive’s legendary technology analyst, George O’Connor, joins me in a conversation with Mark Blandford, the online betting pioneer and founder of Sporting Bet.
Always interested in horse racing and betting on horses, Mark moved from traditional bookmaking into the emerging world of the internet in the late 1990s, building Sporting Bet into a high-growth AIM company, later acquiring US-facing Paradise Poker.
Things changed suddenly in the US online gambling market in 2006, and Mark eventually left Sporting Bet to focus on his racehorses and his family office.
In 2002, Mark was named AIM Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2015, his horse, Next Sensation, won Cheltenham.
Mark has also had several winners as a venture capital investor and has several strategic public company investments. His wide-ranging portfolio includes interests in NASDAQ-listed Gambling.com and the UK-listed small-caps Gaming Realms, B90 and Good Life Plus.
Among his private investments, Mark has stakes in platform, payment, ag-tech, and ed-tech businesses.
He discusses his interest in quantitative analysis, improving operating efficiencies and working with entrepreneurs who are prepared to listen and take advice.
This is a fascinating conversation with many lessons and reminders of how technology can change industries AND how a changing regulatory environment can create radical uncertainty and existential risk. Mark talks openly about his eventful journey from a traditional bricks-and-mortar bookmaker to a seasoned VC and investor.
I must remind you that none of what you are about to hear is investment advice, but it is solely for your information and entertainment. Please take professional advice before investing your money in these crazy markets.
Please enjoy our conversation with the maverick, Mark Blandford.
Brought to you by Progressive Equity
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Episodi mancanti?
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Dominic Frisby is an author, comedian, singer-songwriter, voice-over artist, self-taught financial commentator and the creator of the popular Substack, The Flying Frisby.
The main pillar of Dominic’s investment philosophy is based on gold and Bitcoin, and he has written extensively about both.
He was an early adopter of real asset protection, writing a book on the role of Bitcoin ten years ago.
I wanted to get his view on the role of real assets in investment portfolios and how investors might like to consider protecting their capital from fiat currency debasement.
Dominic didn’t disappoint and added plenty of thoughts on politics, the prospects for liberty and some valuable health tips for the over 50s. Have you tried hanging from a high bar? It works for me.
Please enjoy my conversation with the maverick, Dominic Frisby.
Brought to you by Progressive Equity.
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Dominic Frisby is an author, comedian, singer-songwriter, voice-over artist, self-taught financial commentator and the creator of the popular Substack, The Flying Frisby.
The main pillar of Dominic’s investment philosophy is based on gold and Bitcoin, and he has written extensively about both.
He was an early adopter of real asset protection, writing a book on the role of Bitcoin ten years ago.
I wanted to get his view on the role of real assets in investment portfolios and how investors might like to consider protecting their capital from fiat currency debasement.
Dominic didn’t disappoint and added plenty of thoughts on politics, the prospects for liberty and some valuable health tips for the over 50s. Have you tried hanging from a high bar? It works for me.
Please enjoy my conversation with the maverick, Dominic Frisby.
Brought to you by Progressive Equity.
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Have you ever wondered what investing in Emerging Markets is all about? It’s complicated, right? And having witnessed a decade or more of US dollar dominance and outperforming developed markets, particularly US markets, why bother looking at the rest of the world? After all, isn’t that where all the bad stuff happens, like currency crises and debt defaults?
Recently, there have been signs that Emerging Markets might be re-emerging. This year, there have been signs that the dollar’s dominance may not be so dominant. Following the Fed’s decision to cut rates by 50 basis points, China announced an intention to add significant heft to its policy of loosening monetary and fiscal conditions in the world’s second-largest economy.
Following an extended period of being considered uninvestable, Chinese equities had a near 30% bounce in a couple of weeks. Was this just some hasty short closing or a re-awakening of the biggest emerging markets? This is currently one of the fiercest debates among global investors.
I wanted to get the perspective of an emerging markets expert, so I was delighted to have the chance to speak with Leila Kardouche of Variis Partners. Leila is a veteran of the space, and she and her small team recently launched a new London-based emerging markets partnership. This partnership fills a space left by several high-profile investors who have recently left this area due to its long period of disappointing returns.
In this episode, we learn about the structure of Emerging Markets and how benchmark indices such as the MSCI are not very helpful in uncovering the full potential of the growth opportunities often obscured within these markets. Among other things, Leila discusses how to evaluate political risk in this widely diverse range of markets as we tour what’s hot and what’s not in an investment universe covering 85% of the world’s population.
Critically, Leila and the Variis team focus on stock selection. Leila discusses how the challenges of growing businesses in emerging markets have produced some very successful compounding growth opportunities. Yes, these companies have outperformed strongly even within markets like China, which has been disappointing overall.
For my recent Substack covering emerging markets, please see, Are Emerging Markets Re-emerging?
Be sure you are subscribed to In The Company of Mavericks on your podcast app to avoid missing the next and future episodes.
Made possible by Progressive Equity.
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Have you ever wondered what investing in Emerging Markets is all about? It’s complicated, right? And having witnessed a decade or more of US dollar dominance and outperforming developed markets, particularly US markets, why bother looking at the rest of the world? After all, isn’t that where all the bad stuff happens, like currency crises and debt defaults?
Recently, there have been signs that Emerging Markets might be re-emerging. This year, there have been signs that the dollar’s dominance may not be quite so dominant. Following the Fed’s decision to cut rates by 50 basis points, China announced an intention to add significant heft to its policy of loosening monetary and fiscal conditions in the world’s second-largest economy.
Following an extended period of being considered uninvestable, Chinese equities had a near 30% bounce in a couple of weeks. Was this just some hasty short closing or a re-awakening of the biggest emerging markets? This is currently one of the fiercest debates among global investors.
I wanted to get the perspective of an emerging markets expert, so I was delighted to have the chance to speak with Leila Kardouche of Variis Partners. Leila is a veteran of the space, and she and her small team recently launched a new London-based emerging markets partnership, filling a space left by several high-profile investors who have recently left this area due to its long period of disappointing returns.
In this episode, we learn about the structure of Emerging Markets and how benchmark indices such as the MSCI are not very helpful in uncovering the full potential of the growth opportunities often obscured within these markets. Among other things, Leila discusses how to evaluate political risk in this widely diverse range of markets as we take a tour of what’s hot and what’s not in an investment universe covering 85% of the world’s population.
Critically, Leila and the Variis team focus on stock selection. Leila discusses how the challenges of growing businesses in emerging markets have produced some very successful compounding growth opportunities. Yes, these companies have outperformed strongly even within markets like China, which has been disappointing overall.
Be sure you are subscribed to In The Company of Mavericks on your podcast app to avoid missing the next and future episodes.
Made possible by Progressive Equity.
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A few months ago, I chatted with Adam Rackley, the SVS Dowgate Cape Wrath Focus Fund manager featured in Episode 39, Market Capitulations & Narrative Shifts.
We were reading a great new Substack called Sweet Stocks, which featured weekly in-depth write-ups of some fascinating quality compounding growth stocks. Not only were we impressed with Sweet Stocks’ quality, but the weekly publication cadence also meant it was the work of a highly experienced and disciplined analyst.
A few weeks later, we chatted with Alex Sweet, the man behind the Substack, about what motivates his work, his investment philosophy, his analytical rigour, and, crucially, some of his UK stock ideas.
Alex didn’t disappoint. He gave a masterclass on investing in quality compounding companies capable of “beating the fade” and on how he uses his fundamental analytical approach to find these anomalous gems globally.
This episode teaches how Adam and Alex use similar, in-depth fundamental frameworks to derive different strategies. Adam focuses on contrarian deep value, while Alex focuses on growth at a reasonable price.
These two investors illustrate the type of discipline involved in professional investment analysis. They also share an interest in the crazy world of Ultrarunning. Alex talks about his newfound passion for the Backyard Ultra, an offshoot of the Barkley Marathons, an event he hopes to run 300 miles in three days later this year.
The stocks we cover in this episode are 4imprint, YouGov and Loungers.
I must just tell you that the people on this podcast might own shares in the companies mentioned, but nothing you are about to hear is investment advice. The opinions expressed are purely the contributors' personal views and do not represent the views of Progressive Equity or any other organisation mentioned in this podcast. I hope you find this content informative and entertaining. I learned a lot, but please take professional financial advice before investing a penny in these crazy markets.
I also wrote a Substack article about this podcast at HyperNormalTimes.
Made possible by Progressive Equity. -
Adam Rackley joins me for a conversation with growth stock analyst and ultra runner Alex Sweet of Sweet Stocks.
Alex discusses his background and investment philosophy, and we chat about three UK equities he has covered in his newsletters: 4imprint, YouGov & Loungers.
COMING SOON on all good podcast apps.
Made possible by Progressive Equity
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For this episode, I am joined by Duncan MacInnes, manager of The Ruffer Investment Company, for a conversation about his investment philosophy and how he thinks about risk in today’s financial markets.
He describes himself as a pragmatic, macro-informed, value investor.
The Ruffer Investment Company is a billion-pound London-listed investment company with the simple aim of delivering consistent positive returns regardless of how financial markets perform with the ambition to protect and increase the real value of its investor's capital.
A simple but challenging mandate.
To achieve this distinctive objective, Duncan has a highly differentiated strategy and has constructed a portfolio that looks nothing like most portfolios.
Since launch in the early 2000s, Ruffer has a good long term track record.
However, over the last couple of years, performance has slipped as risk assets, particularly equities, have outperformed Duncan’s expectations.
But Ruffer’s performance has a tendency, as Duncan says, to perform like ketchup coming out of a glass bottle.
The events of early August, as the yen carry trade sent markets in a spin, offered a brief glimpse of the better times that might lie ahead for this fund.
Duncan offers a master class in different, often esoteric, markets and how he has used instruments such as gold, FX, credit spreads, derivatives, inflation-linked bonds and even bitcoin to find uncorrelated returns and asymmetric and reflexive risk profiles.
Duncan is positive on the outlook for gold, the yen, and commodities. However, he thinks investors are over their skis regarding US equities, specifically the Mag Seven.
He is more positive about UK equities and describes why the consensual view that Chinese equities are uninvestable draws him to them.
As he says, we are all invested in China already, but at several times the value of most Chinese stocks.
As always, nothing you hear in this podcast is investment advice, and all the views expressed by the contributors are in a personal capacity only and do not represent the views of Progressive Equity or any other organization mentioned in this podcast.
Please enjoy my conversation with the maverick, Duncan MacInnes.
Made possible by Progressive Equity.
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Coming soon, Duncan MacInnes presents a tour de force of the major financial asset classes and how to manage risk in today's crazy markets.
He covers why he is so bullish on gold, gold miners, the yen and UK equities, and long Chinese equities, the ugliest in his portfolio of ugly ducklings.
He also riffs on the yen carry trade, Bitcoin, premium drinks, and how we might know we are nearer the top than the bottom of the current equity market cycle.
Made possible by Progressive Equity Research.
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In today’s episode, I am joined by Mark Wharrier, an experienced professional investor who previously worked with companies such as Mercury and Black Rock and is now focused on investing in public and private companies.
We have a fascinating conversation with Ami Daniel, the co-founder and CEO of AIM-listed Windward.
Windward is a 14-year-old company that provides B2B data and software solutions. It helps governments and businesses track, manage, comply with, and protect maritime assets worldwide. Its solutions provide awareness and insights into what Ami calls the problem of big oceans and small ships.
Windward was listed on AIM in 2021 and is currently valued at £120m.
Ami is a high-energy entrepreneur. Having survived a near-death experience while serving in the Israeli Navy in 2006, he has established Windward as a high-growth, recurring revenue company with a large addressable market. Ami is one of life’s optimists and a joy to chat with.
In this episode, he discusses the challenges of running an unprofitable growth company, how being told "NO" is only temporary, the importance of building resilience, and why listing in London has been such a positive move for him and the business.
It was great having Mark’s experienced approach to guide Ami through the key pillars of Windward’s investment case and paint a picture of what Windward could become as it approaches profitability and reinvests in its rapidly growing platform.
I must remind you that this is for information purposes only. None of what you hear in this episode is investment or any other type of advice, and the views expressed are purely those of the contributors and not the views of Progressive Equity or any other organisation mentioned in this podcast.
Please enjoy our conversation with the maverick, Ami Daniel.Made possible by Progressive Equity.
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Coming soon on your favourite podcast app is a fascinating chat with Ami Daniel, co-founder and CEO of Windward. Ami is a high-energy entrepreneur driving the fastest annual recurring revenue business in the London market, and he was a joy to talk with. Windward has an impressive customer list and is building a suite of AI-powered products to drive Ami's ambition for Winward to become a multiple hundred-million-dollar revenue "rule of 40 company."
Please subscribe so that you don't miss this and further episodes.
Made possible by Progressive Equity.
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In today’s episode, I am joined by Tim Price of Price Value Partners, a private wealth manager in London since the late 1990s.
Originally an English literature graduate, Tim started work as a bond salesman for a Japanese bank.
However, he switched to private client wealth management, where he was to develop his well-reasoned but highly differentiated approach to managing money.
Tim has developed this approach based on extensive reading in economics, history, finance, and investing.
In this episode, he shares the main influences, which range from the Swiss Italian Renaissance mathematician Daniel Bernoulli to the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises and the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
His strategy has three main themes focusing on …. value equities, systematic trend following and real assets.
He has no time for the traditional 60/40 equity/bond portfolio.
Due to the unsustainable level of sovereign debt and the sluggish outlook for economic growth, he describes bond investors as dancing around a live volcano.
I have been reading Tim’s newsletters for a while and highly recommend subscribing.
Made possible by Progressive Equity Research.
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In today’s episode, I am joined by Tim Price of Price Value Partners, a private wealth manager in London since the late 1990s.
Originally an English literature graduate, Tim started work as a bond salesman for a Japanese bank.
However, he switched to private client wealth management, where he was to develop his well-reasoned but highly differentiated approach to managing money.
Tim has developed this approach based on extensive reading in economics, history, finance, and investing.
In this episode, he shares the main influences, which range from the Swiss Italian Renaissance mathematician Daniel Bernoulli to the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises and the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
His strategy has three main themes focusing on …. value equities, systematic trend following and real assets.
He has no time for the traditional 60/40 equity/bond portfolio.
Due to the unsustainable level of sovereign debt and the sluggish outlook for economic growth, he describes bond investors as 'dancing on the edge of a live volcano'.
I have been reading Tim’s newsletters for a while and highly recommend subscribing.
Made possible by Progressive Equity Research.
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In this episode, I am joined by someone who is probably the best-performing smaller companies fund manager you have never heard of.
I first met Geoff Oldfield in the 1990s when he was working as the co-manager of the European Select Fund at Barings Asset Management. He and his partner Gerhard Shoeningh were making a name for themselves in the sector and, in 1998, left to set up Ennismore Fund Management with some very firm ideas about the type of investment firm they wanted to run.
The main pillars were performance over asset gathering (no fund marketing), investment decisions taken by PMs, not a committee, clawback of performance fees to reward individual contributions, and a firm owned internally by its portfolio managers.
Ennismore’s first fund was launched in January 1999. It has been closed to new investors for most of its life, and a significant proportion of the fund is owned by its portfolio managers, including Geoff.
I was fortunate enough to invest in the Ennismore European Smaller Companies fund on its launch. Over the subsequent nearly 25 years, it has delivered a 17-fold return with a focused absolute return strategy in European-listed smaller companies. This is an average annual return of 12%. Remarkably over the period, the fund only had three down years: 2008, 2009, and 2020, which together represented an aggregate negative 12% return. This is a track record fully demonstrating the advantages of an absolute return approach.
Geoff is not a public figure and I have spoken to him about doing this podcast since he returned to frontline fund management. After a 10-year break, Geoff came back into portfolio management in an effort to help turn around the Ennismore Global Fund. This 2016 fund had scored “an own goal” (as Geoff puts it) while running short positions in the meme stock-obsessed NASDAQ market of 2020.
Geoff is the epitome of the humble investor being respectful of Mr Market and also knowing when to take advantage of his emotionally charged moments of mis-valuation. He talks about mistakes he made in the GFC and how providing liquidity to investors is a good discipline despite investing in an illiquid asset class. He also describes how he defines quality companies and how they should be valued, but he also talks about how he always looks for a margin of safety. Critically he discusses what makes smaller companies such a rich seam of opportunity for value investors a strategy he has successfully pursued in the changing market circumstances for more than a quarter of a century.
I must remind you that nothing you hear today is investment advice. The views expressed are personal to the contributors and do not represent the views of Progressive Equity or Ennismore Fund Management. I hope you find it enjoyable and educational. As always when I chat with Geoff, I learned a lot.
Please enjoy my conversation with the maverick investor, Geoff Oldfield.
Brought to you by Progressive Equity.
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In this episode, I am joined by someone who is probably the best-performing smaller companies fund manager you have never heard of.
I first met Geoff Oldfield in the 1990s when he was working as the co-manager of the European Select Fund at Barings Asset Management. He and his partner Gerhard Shoeningh were making a name for themselves in the sector and, in 1998, left to set up Ennismore Fund Management with some very firm ideas about the type of investment firm they wanted to run.
The main pillars were performance over asset gathering (no fund marketing), investment decisions taken by PMs, not a committee, clawback of performance fees to reward individual contributions, and a firm owned internally by its portfolio managers.
Ennismore’s first fund was launched in January 1999. It has been closed to new investors for most of its life, and a significant proportion of the fund is owned by its portfolio managers, including Geoff.
I was fortunate enough to invest in the Ennismore European Smaller Companies fund on its launch. Over the subsequent nearly 25 years, it has delivered a 17-fold return with a focused absolute return strategy in European-listed smaller companies. This is an average annual return of 12%. Remarkably over the period, the fund only had three down years: 2008, 2009, and 2020, which together represented an aggregate negative 12% return. This is a track record fully demonstrating the advantages of an absolute return approach.
Geoff is not a public figure and I have spoken to him about doing this podcast since he returned to frontline fund management. After a 10-year break, Geoff came back into portfolio management in an effort to help turn around the Ennismore Global Fund. This 2016 fund had scored “an own goal” (as Geoff puts it) while running short positions in the meme stock-obsessed NASDAQ market of 2020.
Geoff is the epitome of the humble investor being respectful of Mr Market and also knowing when to take advantage of his emotionally charged moments of mis-valuation. He talks about mistakes he made in the GFC and how providing liquidity to investors is a good discipline despite investing in an illiquid asset class. He also describes how he defines quality companies and how they should be valued, but he also talks about how he always looks for a margin of safety. Critically he discusses what makes smaller companies such a rich seam of opportunity for value investors a strategy he has successfully pursued in the changing market circumstances for more than a quarter of a century.
I must remind you that nothing you hear today is investment advice. The views expressed are personal to the contributors and do not represent the views of Progressive Equity or Ennismore Fund Management. I hope you find it enjoyable and educational. As always when I chat with Geoff, I learned a lot.
Please enjoy my conversation with the maverick investor, Geoff Oldfield.
Brought to you by Progressive Equity
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For this episode, I am joined by Jim Leaviss, one of the UK’s leading bond fund managers and the voice behind the podcast Uncle Jim’s World of Bonds.
I subscribe to a lot of podcasts, but there aren’t many that I always listen to. However, Uncle Jim’s World of Bonds is always a must-listen to. It's both entertaining and informative. It is typically just 10 minutes long and contains some real nuggets covering macroeconomics, financial markets, politics, and the long-term drivers impacting the world all investors inhabit.
We recorded this chat on July 1st, and quite a lot has happened since then. Obviously, we have had elections in the UK and France and the advancement of England and France to the semifinals of Euro 24.
In this episode, Jim discusses why he thinks bonds are so interesting and important and what we, as investors, can learn from them. He also discusses Trussonomics, the implications of French political instability, the potential impact of an unwinding of Japan’s carry trade, what to know about credit spreads, and how they might inform equity markets.
Jim has been a fund manager at M&G for 27 years, most recently as CIO for fixed income. Since we recorded this episode, Jim has announced his departure later this year to study art history. I very much hope he can also find the time to keep up his podcasting, maybe interspersing yield curve analysis with a view on the modern relevance of German expressionism from the inter-war period.
I must remind you that none of what you hear is investment advice, it is all just the personal views of the people talking and does not represent the views of any organisation mentioned in this podcast.
Please enjoy my conversation with Uncle Jim about his world of bonds.
Made possible by Progressive Equity.
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In this episode, Julian Collett of Blackdown Partners joins me for a conversation with Simon Phillips, the founder and CEO of CT Automotive, a £50m market cap, AIM-listed company.
Simon’s journey is a powerful example of how adverse circumstances, can be a fertile ground for learning and growth. His story underscores the crucial role of resilience in business success. The development of a business supplying tooling and components to the global automotive industry is a testament to Simon’s well-honed entrepreneurial skills and can-do attitude, forged in the face of adversity.
Growing up in one of London’s more socially deprived areas, Simon thrived in maths, physics, and engineering but was thwarted by his dyslexia in pursuing conventional employment. Through successful side hustles developed during his university years, Simon bought into a plastics moulding and tool-making business, becoming MD of his own company at the age of 25.
Simon's vision for CT Automotive was clear from the start. He saw the huge potential in manufacturing in China to Western standards. This foresight led him to spend 16 years living in China, transforming CT from its tool-making roots into a global component supply business that serves most of the world’s largest automotive OEMs.
Simon candidly discusses the challenges he faced in his chosen career path and how he overcame them. He shares why he chose to IPO the business on AIM in 2021 and reflects on the following couple of years as the most challenging period he has ever experienced.
Looking forward, Simon talks about the need to stay ahead via the adoption of AI and robotics, a trend that is happening so quickly that the shape of the automotive industry he supplies will be unknowable over the next few years. However, as he says, CT went to China for its low costs but is staying because of its world-class leadership in modern manufacturing technology.
This is a fascinating story of resilience, innovation and raw entrepreneurialism.
Please enjoy our conversation with the maverick, Simon Philips.
Made possible by Progressive Equity. -
This is a fascinating story of resilience, innovation, and raw entrepreneurialism. Simon’s journey is a powerful example of how adverse circumstances can be fertile ground for learning and growth. Living in China for 16 years, transforming CT from its tool-making roots into a global component supply business, Simon candidly discusses the challenges he faced and how he overcame them. Simon talks about the need to stay ahead by adopting AI and robotics. He says that CT went to China for its low costs but is staying because of its world-class leadership in modern manufacturing technology.
I really enjoyed this one. I hope you do too.
Please subscribe on your podcast app or follow me on Substack.
Made possible by Progressive Equity.
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My friend Mark Atkinson invited me onto the Desert Island Investor podcast, where we chatted with Miles Adcock, the CEO of Concurrent Technologies.
Mark introduced me to Miles in early 2023 where we spoke about the challenges of revitalising the defence electronics supplier amid component shortages. https://share.transistor.fm/s/58cdae19
It was great catching up with Miles again, although the swim home was challenging.
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