Master Investors

With economic indicators suggesting the U.K. isn't in as dire a condition as predicted, inflation tamed and the possibility of an interest rate cut just who are the beneficiaries? In this Master Investor webinar, Jonathan Davis talks to Sarah Lowther about how a reduction in the Bank of England's base rate could provide a fillip to the stock markets as it offers relief to companies with stretched balance sheets and stimulates the property market. They discuss the perils of elevating fund managers into rock stars and unpick both the open-ended funds and investment trusts that are doing well and the renewables vehicles on course for a rebound. Davis calls out JP Morgan's Global Growth & Income Trust, Greencoat UK Wind and Bluefield Solar Income Fund as investments that have provided solid returns. "I wouldn't be surprised if you buy them and own them, you're going to get something like nine or ten percent compounded return over a period of years," says Davis who reminds investors that at the same time "You're doing something for the country. You're doing something for climate change." Davis suggests the second quarter of 2024 may not see an extension of the optimism that has buoyed UK markets so far this year. He does though encourage adopting a long-term strategy to combat any short-term frothiness in stock exchanges. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

EnSilica Plc's (LON: ENSI) aim is to be recognised as Europe's leading ASIC supplier. ASIC is the acronym for Application Specific Integrated Circuits which helps the analog world marry with the digital. ASICs currently represent approximately seven percent of a silicon chip market forecast to grow to a trillion dollars by 2030. Within that space EnSilica customises ASICs for customers, and the bespoke benefits include better data security and supply chain resilience, which in a supply chain challenged world is a huge bonus. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

The fifteen acquisitions that Trident Royalties Plc (LON:TRR) has made in just over three years has been described as a "blistering pace" by its chief executive Adam Davidson. Positioned in the resource sector, Trident acquires royalties in mining companies, and in doing so is entitled to a percentage of generated revenue. "The mining royalty sector is not tiny,' says Davidson. "It's $80 billion in aggregate market cap of mining companies around the world." While other royalty companies focus mainly on gold, Davidson realised there was a gap in the market for "a multibillion-dollar market cap diversified mining royalty company that's got iron ore and copper and zinc as well as gold." Trident is building a pure diversified royalty business. This year it's made five acquisitions across copper, gold, silver, and mineral sands and Davidson is wanting to add nickel and zinc to the portfolio. "We're trying to come up with an index fund style exposure. You can get your exposure to real assets to mining commodities through your holding and Trident because we get a royalty exposure across the whole depth and breadth of the sector." With a robust register of institutional shareholders, the board is in alignment with its investors with directors buying shares when they can. The ultimate ambition according to Davidson is to build more scale within the portfolio and announce an inaugural dividend "when we can put in place a policy that's progressive." For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In addition to expanding resources to accommodate its growing register of really large and regular customers, Cerillion PLC (LON:CER) has added Generative AI into its product set which gives clients more tools to monetise existing infrastructure. "It's going to be revolutionary across the board", says founder and chief executive Louis Hall, and he should know. He's been with the billing, charging and customer relationship management software solutions provider for over two decades and has been quick to adopt and provide initiatives for customers looking for economical solutions that can be deployed quickly. "A task that might take a good product marketing person, a couple of days sometimes can be completed within minutes", says Hall who recognises that AI is just as useful a tool for Cerillion itself 'in terms of productivity in developing and maintaining software'. With the most recent figures showing record financial performance, the GenAI offering is one device dedicated to protecting Cerillion's long-term recurring revenue growth. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Manx Financial Group PLC (LON: MFX) celebrated a financial services first in October 2023 when its Conister Bank became the first Isle of Man bank authorised to accept deposits in the United Kingdom. Chief executive Douglas Grant says being awarded a UK Branch Banking Licence demonstrated regulatory recognition of the company's "really transparent operating business model based on sound economics". Expansion of the group's overall model says Grant will come through diversification. It will come from organic growth, acquisition and backing management teams. "We've got almost like an incubator kind of theory", enthuses Grant who references an FX business the company backed from 'zero' which now "makes a million pounds a year for us". Depositors also have the company's back with Conister Bank passing on interest rate increases to its savers. While that magnanimous gesture resulted in corporate margin contraction, more importantly it made for happy customers. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In times of turbulence, the right investment decisions can make all the difference. Master Investor partnered with Netwealth to help you navigate the economic landscape with confidence and maximise your investment potential in 2024. Master Investor’s Sarah Lowther is joined by Netwealth’s Iain Barnes to share his expert insights and perspectives on the volatile financial markets as well as tools and resources you can use for your own wealth management going into 2024. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Eleanor Davies, Dealflow Steward at VitaDAO, Alex Colville, Co-founder and General Partner at age1, and Patrick Burgermeister, Expert in Life science Investing at Kizoo Technology Ventures, join Phil Newman, Editor-in-Chief at Longevity.Technology, for a panel discussion at Investing in the Age of Longevity 2023. In their chat, participants outline the investment strategies and business models of their respective funds in the longevity sector, as well as their expectations for 2024. Investing in the Age of Longevity 2023 was held on 16 November 2023. The masterclass featured presentations from scientists and business leaders at the cutting edge of the field, giving participants the inside track on the latest aging-related discoveries and investment opportunities. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Dr Richard Marshall CBE, CEO at Juvenescence, Bill Kapp, Co-founder and CEO at Fountain Life, and Jörg Rieker, Founding Partner at Maximon, join Phil Newman, Editor-in-Chief at Longevity.Technology, for a panel discussion at Investing in the Age of Longevity 2023. In their chat, participants present the business models and product pipelines of their respective companies in the longevity sector, and give an update on their current fundraising efforts. Investing in the Age of Longevity 2023 was held on 16 November 2023. The masterclass featured presentations from scientists and business leaders at the cutting edge of the field, giving participants the inside track on the latest aging-related discoveries and investment opportunities. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Not only will the next 12 months be "fascinating" for investors, but according to investment trust authority Jonathan Davis, the UK stock market could do 'quite well' mainly because it's cheap. While the word "cheap" may sound derogatory, buying low represents opportunity, and with 2024 being an election year in both the U.S. and the UK, investment opportunities may not ride on which parties are elected but what the 'voted in' can do to reinvigorate the economy. In his wrapping up 2023 conversation with Master Investor's Sarah Lowther, Davis suggests that the direction of interest rates will continue to feature in market making strategies and in terms of his specialty field "things are looking quite good for the UK, wind and other renewable energy, renewable infrastructure trusts" with a hat tip to battery storage trusts, some of which have enjoyed gains of 30% recently. "It's a very good time to become an investment trust investor", says Davis. "Discounts have widened and that's created all sorts of opportunities. Looking forward, there is at least the hope of some better times ahead." For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Greg Bailey, Co-founder and Executive Chairman at Juvenescence, joins Phil Newman, Editor-in-Chief at Longevity.Technology, for a chat at Investing in the Age of Longevity 2023. Highlighting the importance of preventitive medicine in the healthcare sector, Greg gives his own estimate of how the longevity space is going to develop over the next five years. He also touches on the industry's focus on regulation, and gives advice on how private investors can participate in the longevity space. Having explained the Juvenescence model in more detail, Greg also gives an outlook on the company's product range in 2024. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

After years of cheap money and low interest rates, Master Investor's Jonathan Davis describes the year so far as a "reckoning postponed", and while he is gloomy about the markets he talks about the very much alive investment opportunities that exist. Greencoat UK Wind (LON:UKW) is one such opportunity. "It has an inflation linked yield commitment which it's going to keep", says Davis who explains that while there's a lot of issues around wind power, "that's actually a positive because the worse the conditions are at the moment in wind power, the more likely you are to make money out of it when supply and demand comes back into balance". Davis also says Japan and the yen look very interesting with the currency being "very, very weak" which is its historic behaviour before financial crises. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

The Artisanal Spirits Company (LON: ART) creates and sells what it describes as "outstanding limited edition whiskies and experiences around the world." It does so primarily through its Scotch Malt Whisky Society established some 40 years ago. Crucially, Artisanal is not a distillery or a primary producer. It buys from a huge range of distilleries and has just bottled from its 157th malt whisky distillery. Chief Executive Andrew Dane says Artisanal’s space within the global whisky market is in the ultra-premium price point of typically over £40 a bottle. "That part of the market is really significant and growing. It's over $8 billion and three quarters of that global market is in the markets in which we already have a presence." The business is globally diversified with a recent franchise opening in South Korea attracting 300 members in 90 minutes. Ultimately, Dane says the business is "about creating a highly profitable, highly cash-generative global premium spirits group, and we look to expand the ways that we can reach a broader audience, while keeping the society at the core of what we do." For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In Conversation with Sam Volkering, Editor of The Crypto Handbook. The move towards more digital assets is “inevitable,” says Sam Volkering. The amount of physical cash in circulation in the U.K. is a mere 4% and society is becoming more comfortable with Bitcoin as a new form of money. With its many gatekeepers and administrative demands on users, traditional finance doesn’t work argues Volkering. Bitcoin on the other hand is a new democratised digital asset that is inclusive for everybody. It’s many things says Volkering. “It's digital gold. It trades like a stock. It's money.” There's a lot more to this wider crypto ecosystem than just the price of Bitcoin says Volkering, and it’s one that is developing and expanding and growing and providing opportunities for people. “What people will start to hear a lot more about in the next 12 months is the tokenization of assets. Companies tokenizing their assets, funds tokenizing their assets, where and how things were exchanged and traded.” In this video Volkering talks about how investors can buy, hold, own, sell and trade crypto directly and indirectly. A free eBook of Volkering’s The Crypto Handbook is available on the Harriman House store (www.harriman-house.com/cryptohandbook). For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

August 2023 saw ZOO Digital Group plc (LON:ZOO) updating investors about a fourth successive year of double digit revenue growth, margin improvement and record pre-tax profitability. The company provides services to the entertainment industry including large streaming companies and other organisations that create content such as feature films and TV series. With its proprietary cloud-based software 'ZOO' provides myriad services to its customers including subtitling and soundtrack dubbing which it does so in 80 languages. Chief Executive Stuart Green and Chief Financial Officer Phillip Blundell tell Master Investor's Sarah Lowther about the pain that is being created by screenwriter and actor strikes in the U.S., but are confident that they will "come out of it stronger". Irrespective of the industry-halting strikes, Green describes debt-free ZOO Digital as a disrupter "in prime position to be able to capitalise on new opportunities". New opportunities may come in the form of a potential acquisition in Japan home to the greatest proportion of non-English content that's consumed on Netflix, and the second largest territory in Asia after China. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

As equity markets recover from the shocks of 2022, Jonathan Davis and James Harries of Troy Asset Management, manager of the STS Global Income and Growth trust, discuss the role that global equity income can play in delivering reliable medium term returns. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

Cerillion plc (LON:CER) is a growth stock. It's recognised as such by the many long-term ‘sticky' shareholders and by a city-respected panel who recently recognised founder and CEO Louis Hall as Executive Director of the Year. Hall owns more than 30% of the shares of the business that has seen "a quite steep rise in growth in share price within the last few years." That 'quite steep rise' is a seven-fold increase over the past five years. The company at a simplistic level provides enterprise software to telecoms businesses and it's doing well at attracting new customers and keeping them. Hall is proud of his team's efforts. "One of the things that we work very hard at is bringing onboard more of these larger customers and doing some larger, all-inclusive deals. We've gone from a business that ten years ago was selling perpetual software licenses and 20% maintenance support to a software service business selling quite large typically five-year, software or service deals that encompass license support, hosting a solution, managing the solution. And that's a much bigger stickier long-term recurring revenue scenario." The ambition is simple. "We have to keep working at planning up the value chain ladder and continuing to win deals with bigger, bigger customers, bigger deals." For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In this month's Master Investor cogitation, Jonathan Davis and Sarah Lowther discuss whether the AIM market is suffering due to predictions of an impending Labour government and despite a plethora of bad news investor confidence is actually returning. Davis considers the plight of indebted U.K. water companies using the Warren Buffett analogy of "You know who's been swimming naked when the tide goes up." He also references the third-party casualties of those with exposure to those utilities. He shares his conversation with fund manager James Henderson who suggests now is the time to load up on mid and small cap shares. Lowther meanwhile shares her delight about Sam Volkering's just released "The Crypto Handbook" and how she's no longer afraid of a world she's long been in denial of. The pair agree on the market adage that the value of shares can go down as well as up, and this lesson is learned the hard way by fools and the foolhardy. "What's the best way to become a millionaire? says Davis. "To start with a billion and invest in an airline stock." For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In times of turbulence, the right investment decisions can make all the difference. For our June podcast, Master Investor have partnered with Netwealth to help you navigate the uncertain economic landscape with confidence and maximise your investment potential. Master Investor’s Sarah Lowther is joined by Netwealth’s Gerard Lyons and Matt Conradi to share their expert insights and perspective on the volatile financial markets as well as the tools and resources you can use for your own wealth management. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

With global uncertainty has come a renewed interest in the precious metal and we discuss the gold outlook with four companies in this space. On 24 May 2023, Master Investor hosted four gold companies with exciting projects in development to help keep our investors ahead of the curve. Participants: Charlie Morris, Founder and Chief Investment Officer at ByteTree.com Alexander Scanlon, CEO of Barton Gold Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, Executive Chairman of KEFI Gold + Copper Natalie Bellis, CEO of Seventy Ninth Group Mark Child, CEO of Condor Gold For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.

In this month's Master Investor podcast, Sarah Lowther and Jonathan Davis disagree about the direction of the markets. Lowther, at a grass roots level, sees market sentiment on the up while Davis cites renowned financial strategist Russell Napier who errs caution due to the global accumulation of debt. Napier's thoughts are shared by United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen who suggests the U.S. government will run out of money at the beginning of June, and if that happens Davis says June will be 'a lively month'. Davis shares Napier's thoughts on debt eradication and why ‘the right kind of equities’ could be a solution. Davis's own solution is 'rack up your risk tolerance', or 'do something less frenetic than watching the markets go up and down every day' which Lowther interprets as permission to study to become a vet. For more investment and economics analysis plus inspiration please visit our website masterinvestor.co.uk.