James Ashton: In the City with Huddersfield on my mind
Today, the journalist and author and chief executive of the Quoted Companies Alliance, James Ashton, takes the City A.M. notebook pen
EVEN though the City of London wakes from its summer slumber this week, my thoughts are in Huddersfield. On a trip back to my hometown the other day I visited Fintel, a growing fintech stock and one of our Quoted Companies Alliance members.
Fintel is one of those companies that doomsayers insist doesn’t exist on the London public markets. Through its SimplyBiz division it offers high-tech business and compliance support to financial advisers.
It is backed by a patient, cornerstone investor – Ken Davy, a well-known figure locally who owns the town’s rugby league club. Salaries are well above the Huddersfield average and almost half the workforce participates in ownership – a reminder of how public companies drive local economies and share the wealth.
Fintel is putting its share quote to good use. When the Defaqto ratings business was bought in 2019, it raised £35m in two days’ flat. More deals have followed.
There are familiar grumbles. Some shareholders want Fintel to make lengthy ESG disclosures over and above what has so far been required. Proxy agencies stir trouble over boardroom matters. And, unsurprisingly, its bosses think the share price could be higher.
I offer no investment advice but I’m less reticent on policy matters. July’s Mansion House agreement struck by some of the UK’s largest pension funds to channel up to £50bn into high-growth companies by 2030 is welcome. But seven years is a long time to wait.
We need to see a package of investment incentives, tax cuts and a revival of equity research in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement to halt the worrying decline in public company numbers.
Fintel is by no means alone. But if there were more like it, how much better it would be for the UK regions – as well as for the City infrastructure on which growing companies rely.
The next jump technology
MOST of the global value creation of the last 40 years can be put down to semiconductors, fund manager James Anderson explained to eager tech investors at the FT Weekend Festival on Saturday. But given that Moore’s Law has petered out, future exponential growth looks less predictable for stockpickers.
Advances in genomics or climate technology could take up the baton, said the ex-Scottish Mortgage chief who is now investing the Italian Agnelli family’s money.
That prognosis doesn’t help the chip designer Arm, which kicks off its US IPO roadshow this week. Japanese owner SoftBank already appears to have cut expectations, targeting a valuation below $55bn according to reports, less than the $64bn price at which a recent transaction was struck.
I was at the FT event to talk about my book “The Everything Blueprint” which tells Arm’s remarkable story. With 28 banks on the IPO ticket, much effort will be going into ensuring this latest chapter has a happy ending.
All Points West in the right direction
A common complaint among QCA members is that these days they just can’t get the media coverage they would like. A recent episode of our podcast, Growth Capital, featured City AM’s own Charlie Conchie discussing how growth stocks can catch the journalist’s eye when time is short and the news agenda is busy.
A welcome addition to the landscape comes courtesy of my former Sunday Times colleague Karl West. His All Points West podcast seeks to spotlight hardworking entrepreneurs and small, listed firms that are eager to grow. Some pods are too much hot air; this one provides vital oxygen.
Back to work in September, in more ways than one
Does back to work finally mean back to the office? It’s the workplace debate that lingers long after lockdown. Amazon’s Andy Jassy is but one chief restating policy this autumn, insisting he expects three days a week on the premises despite internal protest.
Meetings are certainly much better in person and culture is harder to cultivate through screens. But for sheer volume of interactions, nothing beats back-to-back Zooms, even if that can leave me more frazzled on a Friday than the midweek commute.