ALPHA Investor Forum ran at New College, Oxford on March 26th. This popular investor event showcased some of the most successful UK companies and most acclaimed investment experts. The event is optimised for the UK's most dedicated stock market investors and enjoys a comprehensive track record of showcasing successful investments.
Beating the market with AIM: David O'Hara
David O'Hara is Publisher of AIM Prospector, the online magazine dedicated to AIM companies. The AIM portfolios that he introduced at the inaugural event in 2016 are since up 62% and 125% respectively. David will be reviewing these portfolios and introducing his latest AIM Top Picks at ALPHA Investor Forum.
The UK super company: Halma plc
Which is Britain's finest quoted company? Halma has a claim. The company has been increasing its dividend to shareholders year in, year out for more than 35 years. It is the only UK-quoted company that has managed to deliver that level of dividend increases at a rate of more than 5% a year. Halma has a market capitalisation in excess of £5bn.
A real dragon: John Booth
John Booth is one of the UK market's most respected technology investors. He was co-Founder of Link, which he sold to ICAP in 2006 for a maximum consideration of £250m. He is currently non-executive Chairman at AIM-quoted Maintel, where he owns 24% of the equity. John will be discussing how he selects investments and the characteristics that he looks for in managers and businesses.
The £13bn Value Investor: Andrew Lyddon (Schroders)
Currently outperforming the average City investor by 10% in the last twelve months*,
Andrew Lyddon is Fund Manager, Equity Value with Schroders. He is a contributor to Schroders' famed investment blog The Value Perspective. Andrew is part of Schroders' Value Team, who together manage £13.0bn (as at March 2017) of assets according to a "disciplined value style". This is a rare opportunity to meet a top investor of scale.
One of AIM's most successful: David Cicurel, Judges Scientific
David Cicurel is one of the most successful business leaders on the UK markets today. The success of Judges Scientific has earned him international renown among the investor community. Growing via the acquisition of a collection of companies in the scientific instrument space, Judges Scientific shareholders have enjoyed annual dividend increases every year since 2007. The rate of those increases has averaged 29% per annum. In that time, shares in his company have increased 26-fold. David will be discussing the most crucial aspect of business leadership: capital allocation; how he identifies investments, how to pay for them, what he wants from a business and when to buy.
Early stage investment guru: Lucius Cary
Lucius Cary OBE is one of the UK's foremost technology investors and Founder of Oxford Technology. He has invested in more than 150 start up and early stage companies and has been undertaking this activity since 1983. In 2003, Lucius was awarded the OBE for services to business. His strongest expertise is among technology companies. Lucius will be discussing what he looks for in management and a business model and the most important questions to ask of any tech investment.
AIM value share: Mission Marketing Group
P/E just 6.8 on this turnaround
Mission Marketing Group survived near-disaster during the financial crisis to become a paradigm of business recovery and turnaround. We will be joined in Oxford by FD Peter Fitzwilliam, the man parachuted into Mission Marketing Group by its bank to save the company during the recession. This recovery was secured and the company returned to the dividend list in 2013. Since then, Mission Marketing has increased its dividend every year, by a mean average of 14.3% a year (median: 11.7% a year). In November 2018, Mission Marketing Group sold its BroadCare business for £4.4m in cash. This division delivered around 5% of 2018's forecast profit but its market sale returned 10% of Mission Marketing's market capitalisation. Market consensus data suggests that the Group is trading at 6.8 times forecast earnings for the 2018 year and estimates are for Mission Marketing Group to be net cash at 2020 year end.
Event chair: Viviane Joynes, EQS Group
ALPHA Investor Forum welcomes back Viviane Joynes, UK Managing Director of EQS Group. Viviane will Chair ALPHA Investor Forum. EQS is a provider of Investor Relations, Communications, and Compliance solutions to corporates across Europe.
