In the Company of Mavericks Jeremy McKeown

For this episode, I am joined by Tom Like, an analyst at Singer Capital Markets, for a conversation with Nick Prest, the Founder and Chairman of the defence services and technology company Cohort PLC. 
Prior to founding Cohort, Nick worked in the Ministry of Defence before joining United Scientific Holdings, later renamed Alvis. A few years later Nick became CEO. 
Alvis was eventually acquired by BAe, and Nick, along with several former Alvis colleagues, set up Cohort in 2006. With a market value of £26m, Cohort aims to provide technical services to the defence industry in the UK and abroad. 
Today, 18 years later, Cohort is the parent company of six operating businesses, providing a wide range of services and products for British and international customers in defence, security, and related markets. Its market capitalisation is £335m. 
In a fascinating discussion, Nick talks about the changing nature of the defence industry over his long career, why he decided to establish Cohort, how he has gone about making acquisitions and the decentralised operating model for the Group, how the listed defence industry has changed, and how our rapidly changing geopolitics is likely to change the operating environment for Cohort in the coming years. 
With defence spending rising up the priority list for all Western countries, the outlook for Cohort and the rest of the defence industry hasn’t looked this good for decades. As he says the expansion of the Chinese navy over the last 20 years is a source of considerable concern to other countries in the region, such as Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, all of which are Cohort customers. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has radically changed perceptions about the need to fund defence budgets further in Europe.    
I began by asking Nick about his background and how and why he came to establish Cohort in 2006.
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A few weeks ago, Tom Like of Singer Capital Markets joined me for a fascinating conversation with Nick Prest, the Founder and Chairman of defence technology provider Cohort.
Nick provides a wealth of anecdotes and knowledge of the defence industry, the geopolitics that drives it, and how it will likely change in the years ahead.
Coming soon on all good podcast apps.
Made possible by Progressive Equity Research   

I sit on the Investment Committee of the AIM-listed Onward Opportunities investment fund managed by Dowgate Wealth. I have a personal investment in Onward. Dowgate Group owns 9.26% of Transense Technologies PLC, of which Onward Opportunities owns 6.96%.
Last year, Onward's fund manager, Laurence Hulse, proposed an investment in Transense Technologies. My initial reaction could best be described as having a Victor Meldrew moment. Those with stock market memories may recall that Transense has a history of failing to meet its ambitious plans and targets and repeatedly returned to investors to back its innovative sensor technology.
In 2007, Transense had a market cap of £60m and forecast revenue of £300,000. Its exciting disruptive technology, Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW), was destined to achieve widespread adoption in the automotive industry. However, this didn't happen, and instead, Transense developed a well-earned reputation for serial stock market underachievement.   
As Sir John Templeton said, the four most dangerous words in investing are, This Time It's Different. With these words in mind, on today's episode, I am joined by Laurence to hear how Executive Chairman Nigel Rogers and Managing Director Ryan Maughan have repositioned this failed AIM-listed, blue-sky growth stock of the early 2000s. It is a fascinating case study of how UK-listed microcap companies can become forgotten and ignored as recovery strategies are implemented and latent value is created. As Nigel mentions, the AIM market is far from perfect.
Today, Transense has a market cap of just £15m and is only now beginning to exploit SAW's true potential in areas like motorsport, EVs, aerospace and robotics. Following an innovative licensing deal with tyre giant Bridgestone that has effectively underwritten the business's foreseeable future, Transense today is led by a combination of Nigel's experienced financial nouse and Ryan's proven engineering credentials and entrepreneurial instincts. In this episode, we learn how Transense Technologies has been right-sized and can face the future on a firm financial footing, giving it time to exploit opportunities in SAW and its tyre-measuring device business, Translogik.   
Please enjoy our conversation with Nigel and Ryan of Transense Technologies and why this time, it's different.       
Brought to you by Progressive Equity Research.     

I sit on the Investment Committee of the AIM-listed Onward Opportunities investment fund managed by Dowgate Wealth. I have a personal investment in Onward. Dowgate Group owns 9.26% of Transense Technologies PLC, of which Onward Opportunities owns 6.96%. 
Last year, Onward's fund manager, Laurence Hulse, proposed an investment in Transense Technologies. My initial reaction could best be described as having a Victor Meldrew moment. Those with stock market memories may recall that Transense has a history of failing to meet its ambitious plans and targets and repeatedly returned to investors to back its innovative sensor technology. 
In 2007, Transense had a market cap of £60m and forecast revenue of £300,000. Its exciting disruptive technology, Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW), was destined to achieve widespread adoption in the automotive industry. However, this didn't happen, and instead, Transense developed a well-earned reputation for serial stock market underachievement.   
As Sir John Templeton said, the four most dangerous words in investing are, This Time It's Different. With these words in mind, on today's episode, I am joined by Laurence to hear how Executive Chairman Nigel Rogers and Managing Director Ryan Maughan have repositioned this failed AIM-listed, blue-sky growth stock of the early 2000s. It is a fascinating case study of how UK-listed microcap companies can become forgotten and ignored as recovery strategies are implemented and latent value is created. As Nigel mentions, the AIM market is far from perfect. 
Today, Transense has a market cap of just £15m and is only now beginning to exploit SAW's true potential in areas like motorsport, EVs, aerospace and robotics. Following an innovative licensing deal with tyre giant Bridgestone that has effectively underwritten the business's foreseeable future, Transense today is led by a combination of Nigel's experienced financial nouse and Ryan's proven engineering credentials and entrepreneurial instincts.   In this episode, we learn how Transense Technologies has been right-sized and can face the future on a firm financial footing, giving it time to exploit opportunities in SAW and its tyre-measuring device business, Translogik.   
Please enjoy our conversation with Nigel and Ryan of Transense Technologies and why this time, it's different.       
Brought to you by Progressive Equity Research.     

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For this week's Market Call Gareth and Jeremy are joined again by Scott Evans of the London Business School and the Deutsche Numis Equity Indices. Scott talks about market performance in Q1 2024. Where have markets come from, how have they performed in Q1, and where are they going? Bond yields have risen, inflation is sticky, and rates are higher for longer. Equities have had a good quarter, albeit the Magnificent Seven have not been quite so magnificent. The UK, by comparison, has been lacklustre. Gold has been the Q1 showstopper, and the main buyer seems to have been China's central bank, the POBC. Are they about to devalue the Red Cabbage or launch a military campaign?
In Q1, small caps underperformed large caps in Q1 in UK and US. The UK IPO market remains moribund. There have been more deaths than births in the UK market YTD. Is the UK stock market just a dumpster fire, or can it recover? Gareth is hopeful for a recovery.
Jeremy highlights the Middle East conflict, its limited impact on financial markets, and what to look for going forward. The big news is UK inflation, but he remains sceptical that the UK will cut rates ahead of the Fed.
Gareth discusses the week's company news, highlighting the Severfield results with a strong order book and a share buyback.
In next week's news, Jeremy highlights US PCE inflation data and the Bank of Japan's interest rate decision.
Made possible by Progressive Equity.  

In today’s episode, private investor Mark Atkinson and host of The Desert Island Investor rejoins me for a conversation with MPAC CEO Adam Holland. 
 
Mark’s professional background was in the paper and packaging industry. He has been a shareholder in MPAC since 2013 when it was known as Molins. 
 
Adam has enjoyed a varied engineering career, initially working in space technology, then with Rolls Royce and for JCB before joining MPAC initially as COO in 2021. He has a track record of solving engineering problems in global industries and leading teams that provide after-sales care for large multinational customers.
 
Adam gives us a detailed run-through of the rich legacy of the business he now runs and its evolution into an automation systems provider to the global packaging industry. He talks about the scale of MPAC's market, the challenges, and the opportunities to grow organically with existing and new customers, and via infill acquisition. 
 
We learn from Adam why he prefers to reinvest in the business than to pay dividends today, how MPAC has significant potential in the giga factory market for the scale production of modern batteries, and that scaling the business and maintaining its culture of engineering excellence and customer service is vital in his vision to make MPAC into a business capable of being 10x its current sales level.  
 
Please enjoy our conversation with Adam Holland.   Brought to you by Progressive.