North Atlantic Smaller C... Share Discussion Threads

[chillpill] 07/11/2022 09:16

Not 100% sure but have a feeling NAS have a holding in APP which has been bid for. No idea how many shares they might own.

[p1nkfish] 01/11/2022 10:59

Utitec look to have been laying people off or letting them leave in the past year. Now about 45 heads, may have been preparing for sale?

[p1nkfish] 01/11/2022 10:48

Harwood PE bought Utitec in 2012.

"Utitec is the leader in its field of manufacturing precision metal components used primarily in the assembly of cardiological, endoscopic and orthopaedic medical instruments. The company employs unique stamping processes to produce miniature parts. It has significant European sales and a strong US client base of global medical and electronic device suppliers. The Utitec management team will be led by Executive Chairman Carl Contadini, the CEO of a previous Harwood Private Equity investment.

Commenting on the acquisition, Geoffrey Gorman of Harwood Private Equity, who led the transaction and who will join the board of Utitec, said:

“We are very pleased to have acquired Utitec. We see a very clear opportunity to enhance production efficiencies, tool new products, recover the company’s position in the non-medical sector, and possibly grow through acquisition. We are enthusiastic about the potential.”"

[p1nkfish] 01/11/2022 10:32

Utitec sales was on runway.
All I can find out is revenue was $16.3M and 72-74 employees.
Held for 10 yrs approx.
Buyback welcome to close NAV gap a little.
Interested to see when Mills goes shopping, hope he's not distracted by other things.

[chillpill] 30/10/2022 05:59

Managed to add a few more at 3180p. I think I read they intended to restart share buyback soon assuming a takeover completed at the end of Oct.

[loglorry1] 26/10/2022 17:06

Rates dropping, inflation might be rolling over, gas prices falling. I've been buying a few things including here.

[spectoacc] 17/9/2022 13:30

Energy key, agree, is the input to almost everything. But the gas price rise started before the Ukraine invasion, partly due to coming out of Covid, partly due to ill-advised ESG reduction in investment, partly due to China trying to switch from coal to gas.

The immediate price spikes would end on a return of Russian supplies (something currently looking unlikely), but the problem is longer term. We either use less energy for a given level of growth, which has been happening for some time, or we find a cheaper source of energy (nope), or we accept climate change acceleration and start back on coal. Or we wait 10 years for more nukes, the uranium for which would come from Russia & Kazakhstan - great.

On the flip side, I really do think China is due a major "return to mean" - so potentially a huge drop in metals, energy, resources demand. Whether you think that's going to be good for markets is another matter..

No question the price of energy - oil, rather than gas - strongly influences whether we're doing well or doing badly.

[hindsight] 16/9/2022 17:56

At the risk of stating the obvious, its all on the gas curve me thinks and that is in a big way down to Ukraine outcome effect on Russia leadership, 1917 mk2 , etc

[p1nkfish] 16/9/2022 17:08

p/e compression indeed, some will see that and "e" fall too, big double whammy.

[spectoacc] 16/9/2022 16:22

I think the BoE might (/should).

Thought some comments in here very interesting:
[...] (Edit - can't link, but copy/pasted the interesting bit).


Adobe down 24% in 5 days, on top of the falls [-40% from high] quoted from May 2022, and I thought this nailed it [from May]:


"In a note to investors in February, Richard de Lisle of the value-focused VT De Lisle America fund explained why a quality company such as Adobe looked susceptible to a further re-rating, even though its fundamentals looked “fantasticR21;.

“It has grown earnings at 19% on average for a decade and no doubt will keep going forever,” he explained.

“The stock is off from $700 to $500 [now $400], so it’s all priced in, right? Nope, it’s still on 50x trailing P/E [price-to-earnings], and in the 1980s you could get a 19% grower for 20x trailing. But the 1980s is where we’ve just referenced a 7.5% inflation rate.

“Sounds like a lot more P/E multiple falling still to be done here for the next few years. Earnings of more than 19% a year is a double every four years, so in four years’ time Adobe could be at the same price but on a trailing P/E of 25x if it can keep the good times rolling on.

“Not a bad outcome, but maybe not where you want to be?”


To save you looking it up, Adobe is $297 now. Yesterday's -16% on overpaying for an acqn, but I reckon the above comments fit a lot in the US.

[topvest] 16/9/2022 16:07

Next week could be bumpy if the FED and BoE (definitely a follower rather than a leader) have the bravery to go for a 1% and 0.75% raise respectively. Let's see.

[topvest] 16/9/2022 16:06

Yes, all very interesting. I am expecting another leg down in the markets sometime soon. To be honest though, I am slightly confused as to why its not happened already. I guess we could be nearer the bottom than we all thought. US markets still look overvalued though.

[p1nkfish] 16/9/2022 16:05

Dollar earners where most costs are in $ are a little better.
UK HQ, earnings and most costs in $.
Growth area in utilities (it does exist).
Inflation pass through.
Capital light.
Subscription model.
Long contracts.
High switching costs.
Looking towards new global opps as ROW follows NA.
Network effects helping growth rate.

[spectoacc] 16/9/2022 15:55

Indeed. Free money for the brokers when interest rates rise, but hit elsewhere. Banks have the added political angle.

Personally, I don't see many winners in a rising inflation/rising interest rate environment, coupled with a bear market. Dollar earners, so far, but the dollar is approaching bubble territory.

The old staples of utilities and tobacco now too over-geared and politicised. Real chance some of the big water co's could get in trouble IMO.

Some co's will be able to pass on cost increases, but that's to counter cost increases, by definition.. Wages, energy etc will all be on the rise.

No, I want a wider discount on NAS :) We're a long way from the despair stage on equities atm.

[loglorry1] 16/9/2022 15:49

brokers are normally a disaster in bear market. Banks do better with steeper yeild curve but loan defaults can kill them.

[spectoacc] 16/9/2022 15:41

Banks, and share brokers (AJB, HL) ought to do well, but "well" is relative - make easy millions on customer deposits, but hit in other ways.

[loglorry1] 16/9/2022 14:40

I can't think of anything untouched by rates but the extent matters a lot. High quality companies with pricing power should largely pass on cost increases. Companies with lots of cash will earn more on cash deposits. Companies with tangible asset backing should see that asset backing rise. Companies with large pension deficits might see these deficits erased with rising discount rates. Health care or legal claims busiesses not so badly affected.

I can't imagine stuff like MORE gets away but perhaps a lot in the price. I'm sure Mills was well aware that this was around the corner so lets hope he was well paid enough to be well positioned.

[spectoacc] 16/9/2022 13:06

Personally I'd want the discount to widen - know it's large, but always is. These markets haven't knocked it out further yet.

Would also be intrigued to know which industries are "..Unaffected by rising interest and inflation rates".. If you sell something, & employ people, you're affected.

[p1nkfish] 16/9/2022 13:03

It is a relatively safe haven for the patient. Have held for quite a while and certainly won't be selling.

Other point is reference to restart of buybacks - possibly - so some floor on price by the company.

[spectoacc] 16/9/2022 12:37

Expanding @p1nkfish's quote above:


"There is no question that the value is, once again, opening up in equity markets and it is therefore expected that further new investments will be made over the coming months. It will be important to emphasise industries which will be unaffected by rising interest and inflation rates. We do expect the market, as a whole, to weaken further but we would hope to outperform this trend given our conservative balance sheet and the likelihood of further uplifts from our private equity portfolio."

[steve3sandal] 16/9/2022 12:29

Given all the macro stuff going on I consider NAS to be a safe hiding place. I have others too. I’d like to be doing more buys of my own if we get one more down leg from the macro.

[p1nkfish] 16/9/2022 12:16

Release today, comment "We do expect the market, as a whole, to weaken further........"

[18bt] 08/9/2022 07:30

Agreed - very specific skillset with no obvious investing background. But if she is a challenging mindset, hopefullly the diversity of thought as well as gender is increased.