Richard digs deeper into Spirax’s annual report to discover why its numbers have deteriorated and consider whether the company can re-establish its tremendous long-term track record. 5 Strikes Only four companies have published annual reports and passed the minimum quality filter since my last article. Only one of them achieved less than 3 Strikes, and

Six years after selling Science, a share that today has no strikes to its name, Richard looks at the consultancy’s last annual report to see where the company’s strategy took it. Since last time, only three companies have published annual reports and made it past my minimum quality filter. I assigned all of them 4

January is a quiet month for annual reports, so Richard mines the list of shares that passed the 5 Strikes test in 2024 and should pass it again in 2025. Spirax Sarco catches his eye. Only two shares have published annual reports in the sleepy post-New Year reporting season. That is because the many companies

Cerillion has a perfect track record selling software to a challenging sector. Goldplat knows how to profit consistently from miners in troubled economies. Renew has figured out how to make big returns from labour intensive infrastructure repair and maintenance. All pass the 5 Strikes test. Unsurprisingly companies haven’t been busy churning out annual reports over

Richard makes a rare find, a company with no strikes to its name. He also stripped down his 5 Strikes system and checked its components to make sure it was fit for the purpose in 2025. Happy New Year! And a propitious one it is too, because the only company to have scored less than

Richard brings you the latest shares to pass his 5 Strikes process and takes a look at Raspberry Pi, a rare British technology company that will not pass the 5 Strikes test for at least 7 years. Since this is my last article before Christmas, I am (temporarily) passing up the opportunity to write about

Gram for gram Bioventix must be one of the most profitable manufacturers in the UK. Richard also looks at Dotdigital. It too has an unblemished financial history. Since my last update in mid-November, six companies have passed my minimum quality filter, and four of them have achieved less than three strikes. These companies have achieved

Only two companies pass Richard’s minimum quality filter. Luckily Associated British Foods and Softcat both pass the 5 Strikes test. It’s been a thin fortnight for my 5 Strikes system since I last updated you. Only two of the 16 companies that published annual reports passed my minimum quality filter, which is a pretty low

Investing in UK market-leading companies is a marmite proposition. They must have done something good but, if they are already so big, how can they keep taking market share? Richard examines market leaders Dunelm, and Inchcape (again!) In this week’s update, only two companies published annual reports, passed my minimum quality filter and the 5

Richard looks at one of his least favourite kinds of business – asset managers. Love them or loathe them, many London-listed asset managers are profitable and financially sound. Investors, aka asset managers, are not my favourite category of share. The financial world is precarious to me, which is why long ago I decided to take

There is very little 5 Strikes action, so Richard takes the opportunity to slide Inchcape onto the front burner. Over the last eight years, the company has sharpened its focus on motor vehicle distribution. Deciding what to focus on is the basis of good strategy. Since my last article only two shares have published annual