All the 0s, 1s, and 2s

Richard collects all the shares that have passed his 5 Strikes system so far this year, a total of 81 businesses with good financial track records.

Six shares have made it past the minimum quality filter since I last updated you, but only two join the 79 shares that had already passed 5 strikes since the beginning of the year.

5 Strikes

There is too much to worry about in the financial track records of the first four shares in my table:

Name TIDM Prev AR Strikes # Strikes
DFS Furniture DFS 25/9/25 – Holdings – Growth – Debt 3
PZ Cussons PZC 25/9/25 – Holdings – Growth – Debt – ROCE 4
Redcentric RCN 25/9/25 ? Acquisitions ? CROCI – Debt – Growth – ROCE 4
Alumasc ALU 23/9/25 – CROCI – Debt – Growth 3
Ashmore ASHM 18/9/25 – Growth 1
City of London Investment CLIG 16/9/25 ? Holdings – Growth – Shares 2
Click here for our 5 Strikes explainer 01/10/2025

The last two shares, Ashmore (- Growth) and City of London Investment (? Holdings – Growth – Shares) are specialist fund managers. Ashmore specialises in emerging markets, and City of London Investment in investment trusts.

Although they achieved less than three strikes, these are not businesses I can bring myself to invest in.

Ultimately, I imagine the performance of asset managers depends on their ability to encourage investors to buy their funds, which is ultimately driven by the performance of those funds.

As I explained when the same two shares passed 5 Strikes last year, it is hard to determine whether a fund manager’s success or failure is due to skill or luck, and whether it is temporary or sustainable.

To my mind, shares in fund managers are not for buy and hold investors. They are for traders. You buy them when investors are buying the underlying funds, which generates more fees for the manager, and you sell shares in fund management companies when investors are selling the funds, and fee income is falling.

Ashmore: A lot of ups and downs, but the share price is below what it was in 2006

With no new ideas coming across my desk, it is a good point in time to take stock. Maybe there are good ideas that escaped my notice earlier in the year, when the flow was greater.

All the 0s

Twelve companies have passed the minimum quality filter and achieved no strikes since the beginning of the year. Since these shares have no obvious blemishes in their financial track records, they are likely to be good businesses and easy to investigate. Not surprisingly I have focused on them.

Six of are in the model Share Sleuth portfolio I run for interactive investor (indicated by the ii link) and consequently I have written them up in full. I have considered five others here on ShareScope (also linked).

Name TIDM Prev AR Strikes # Strikes Mentions
4imprint FOUR 15/4/25 ? Holdings 0 ii
Alpha International ALPH 17/4/25 ? Shares 0 Beyond my ken
Auto Trader AUTO 27/6/25 0 ii
Bloomsbury Publishing BMY 13/6/25 0 ii
Cohort CHRT 20/8/25 ? Acquisitions 0 Acquisition spend, ii, Median pay
Computacenter CCC 9/4/25 0
Cranswick CWK 27/6/25 0 Animal welfare
Morgan Sindall MGNS 24/3/25 0 Complexity as a virtue
Nichols NICL 24/3/25 0 Sweet is not good
Porvair PRV 14/3/25 ? Holdings 0 ii
Quartix QTX 3/3/25 ? ROCE 0 ii
Warpaint London W7L 20/5/25 – Shares 0 Big acquisition

The obvious omission is Computacenter, which is an IT reseller. Back in 2018, I thought it might be a good business that was getting better, but my head was turned by Softcat, another IT reseller.

Perhaps it is time to update that analysis. Judging by their share price performance since then, the stock market hasn’t been able to pick a clear winner:

All the 1s

Thirty shares have achieved only one strike since 2025. There are a lot more holes in this table, but I am prejudiced against filling some of them for reasons not evident in the companies’ mostly good financial track records. Some of these reasons may seem whimsical, but I know they would temper my enthusiasm to research and hold the shares, and consequently stay invested for the long-term.

For example Barr (Irn Bru) sells sweet drinks, which I came out against when I looked at Nichols (Vimto). Clarkson, the shipping business, is complex and I do not want to butt heads with it. There are too few shares in public hands to pique an interest in London Security, which makes fire extinguishers. Under its Quixant brand, Nexteq makes gambling and betting terminals, which is not a market I approve of.

Fear keeps me from investigating FDM. It recruits, trains and contracts out entry-level software developers. These jobs, we are told, are most at threat from artificial intelligence. FDM’s last annual report says almost nothing about artificial intelligence. As a shareholder, I would need more reassurance, so I am not inclined to become one.

Name TIDM Prev AR Strikes # Strikes Mentions
Arcontech ARC 11/9/25 – Growth 1 Too small
Ashmore ASHM 18/9/25 – Growth 1 See above
Barr (AG) BAG 28/4/25 ? Growth 1
Clarkson CKN 2/4/25 ? ROCE 1
Colefax CFX 4/8/25 ? CROCI ? Growth 1 Buy backs
Dunelm DNLM 11/9/25 – Debt 1
Eleco ELCO 12/5/25 – Holdings ? Growth 1 Building lifecycle software
FDM FDM 8/4/25 – Growth 1
Fevertree Drinks FEVR 24/4/25 – CROCI 1 Costly diversification
Games Workshop GAW 29/7/25 – Holdings 1 ii
Gamma Communications GAMA 24/3/25 – Holdings 1
Halma HLMA 20/6/25 – Holdings 1
Hill & Smith HILS 11/4/25 ? Holdings ? Acquisitions 1
Howden Joinery HWDN 18/3/25 – Holdings 1 ii
Inchcape INCH 25/3/25 ? Debt ? Growth 1
Kainos KNOS 25/7/25 – Growth 1 People v AI
Latham (James) LTHM 24/7/25 – CROCI ? Growth 1 ii
London Security LSC 16/5/25 – Holdings 1
M Winkworth WINK 1/5/25 – Growth 1 Profitable and debt free
Me International MEGP 24/2/25 – Growth 1
Mony MONY 3/3/25 – Holdings ? Growth 1
Mortgage Advice Bureau MAB1 4/4/25 – Shares 1 Platform biz
Nexteq NXQ 19/3/25 – CROCI 1
Oxford Instruments OXIG 25/6/25 – Holdings ? Growth 1 ii
Pets at Home PETS 18/6/25 – Holdings 1 Everything store
Polar Capital POLR 7/7/25 – Growth 1
Ramsdens RFX 14/1/25 – CROCI 1
Rightmove RMV 28/3/25 – Holdings 1
Science SAG 15/4/25 – Growth 1 Anything goes
Tatton Asset Management TAM 10/6/25 – IPO 1

That still leaves plenty of scope for investigation, before we even move on to the 2s…

All the 2s

Thirty nine companies have achieved two strikes since the beginning of the year, and I am sure there are many good prospects here too:

Name TIDM Prev AR Strikes # Strikes Mentions
Alfa Financial Software ALFA 1/4/25 – Growth – Float date 2
Andrews Sykes ASY 15/5/25 – Holdings – Growth 2
Anpario ANP 19/5/25 ? CROCI – Growth ? ROCE 2 ii
Aptitude Software APTD 26/3/25 ? Holdings – Growth ? Shares 2
BAE Systems BA. 3/3/25 – Holdings ? Growth 2
Berkeley BKG 4/8/25 ? CROCI – Growth 2 Brownfield builder
Billington BILN 23/4/25 ? Holdings – CROCI ? Growth 2
Bunzl BNZL 20/3/25 ? Holdings – Debt ? Growth 2 ii
Card Factory CARD 19/5/25 – Holdings – Debt 2 Celebrations destination
Churchill China CHH 9/5/25 – CROCI – Growth 2 ii
City of London Investment CLIG 16/9/25 ? Holdings – Growth – Shares 2
Domino’s Pizza DOM 24/3/25 ? Holdings – Debt ? Growth 2
GlobalData DATA 2/4/25 ? Acquisitions ? ROCE – Shares 2
Goodwin GDWN 14/8/25 – CROCI – Growth 2 ii
Greggs GRG 16/4/25 – Holdings – Debt 2 Question of growth
GSK GSK 3/3/25 ? Holdings – Debt ? ROCE 2
Hikma Pharmaceuticals HIK 19/3/25 – Debt ? Growth – Shares 2
IG IGG 12/8/25 – Holdings – Growth 2
IMI IMI 28/3/25 – Debt – Growth 2
InterContinental Hotels IHG 27/2/25 – Holdings – Debt 2
Intertek ITRK 21/3/25 ? Holdings – Debt ? Growth 2
ITV ITV 27/3/25 ? Holdings – Debt – Growth 2
Jet2 JET2 4/8/25 – Holdings – CROCI 2 ii
Johnson Service JSG 21/3/25 – Holdings – Debt 2
Luceco LUCE 26/3/25 ? Acquisitions ? CROCI – Debt ? Growth 2
Macfarlane MACF 11/4/25 ? Holdings – Growth – Shares 2 ii
MS International MSI 15/7/25 – CROCI – ROCE 2
Next NXT 9/4/25 – Debt ? Growth 2
PageGroup PAGE 14/4/25 – Holdings – Growth 2
PHSC PHSC 21/8/25 – Growth – ROCE 2 Small and contracting
QinetiQ QQ. 11/6/25 ? Holdings ? Acquisitions – ROCE 2 Big adjustments
Record REC 20/6/25 – Holdings – Growth 2
RELX REL 20/2/25 – Holdings – Debt 2
Rotork ROR 26/3/25 – Holdings – Growth 2
Spirax SPX 8/4/25 – Holdings – Debt ? Growth 2 Green dream
Spirent Communications SPT 15/5/25 ? Holdings – Growth – ROCE 2
SThree STEM 4/3/25 – Holdings – Growth 2
Unilever ULVR 14/3/25 – Debt – Growth 2
XPS Pensions XPS 10/7/25 – Holdings – Debt 2

Richard Beddard

Contact Richard Beddard by email: richard@beddard.net, web: beddard.net

This article is for educational purposes only. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell shares or other investments. Do your own research before buying or selling any investment or seek professional financial advice.

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