10foot Scuttlebutt – November 2017 edition
Back with another version of scuttlebutt, and a few things I’ve seen or thought about recently. As usual, you are agreeing to my disclaimer, and the following represents some idle thoughts I’ve had about various businesses in recent times: Oliver’s Real Foods (ASX: OLI) Oliver’s is working smart financially. The company is selling and leasing back …
The Gig Economy, Round 2
I saw the gay marriage result today and that got me thinking about the gig economy and working conditions. What do gay people have to do with the gig economy? Not sure – but AMP’s Shane Oliver asserted on Twitter that workforce participation would likely pick up now that gay people can marry. Why would gay …
Why the life insurance industry needs Amazon
I was having a look at Freedom Insurance Group Ltd (ASX: FIG) after its plunge recently. 4x-5x EBITDA is the price level where 10foot gets interested, especially when there’s embedded value in the existing customers and commissions. Ultimately I’m not comfortable with the business model (cold calling) and probably won’t invest. Freedom is an insurance broker …
A post-mortem for Thorn Group Ltd
I previously bought and sold Thorn Group Ltd (ASX: TGA) shares for the 10foot portfolio. I lost about 8% of the investment or about 0.4% of capital on the transaction, but I avoided the blow up that came following the recent market announcement. I believe that the Thorn purchase was a mistake as I was too …
A qualitative look at Oliver’s Real Foods
I recently had a look at healthy food company Oliver’s Real Foods (ASX: OLI). Oliver’s operates fast-food outlets that sell only healthy and organic food. You can read my purchase thesis here but in my view it is the qualitative factors here that will prove make-or-break for this young brand. These are three key premises (‘beliefs’) that I …
Purchase #9: Oliver’s Real Food Ltd
I recently made the 9th purchase for the portfolio, Oliver’s Real Food Ltd (ASX: OLI). As with the Just Group purchase, I think the shorter thesis length is a winner and I will stick to that format here. Oliver’s has ~210m shares on issue including 2.7 million options. It has a market capitalisation of ~$46 million …
Quarterly review September: Q1 2018
So ends the second quarter of 10foot’s short life so far. On balance, I should have underperformed, given that I blew 4% of my capital on RNY Property Trust and lost a little bit on Thorn Group Ltd (ASX: TGA), plus I pay 3% in transaction fees, so I am behind from the get-go. The 10foot portfolio was …
Strong narratives: A source of competitive advantage?
One of the best things about investing is that you will draw on virtually all of your skills, knowledge, and experience at one point or another. I studied narratives at school, formally, as an academic pursuit. It sounds dry, and it kinda was, but it’s proven to be valuable in highly unusual ways. Try deconstructing a …
On Catalonia
The general view on Twitter and in the media seems to be that ‘Spain is grossly overreacting to the illegal Catalan referendum.’ Fair point. It is not a pretty picture. However, if we ask why Spain is overreacting, a different picture emerges: Autonomy Although a parliamentary monarchy, Spain is a decentralized nation composed of autonomous regions and cities. …
What is a synthetic subprime CDO?
Six months ago I was asked to explain what a synthetic CDO was. Well pal, the sky is blue because bankers in Wall Street…. I sort of did my best and drew a few diagrams and we got about halfway there and came to a halt. I understand roughly how a synthetic CDO works, I …
