Investing Matters

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Breaking news: Please do join George O’Connor, Stephen Yiu, Gervais Williams & Charlie Huggins for the All-star “LIVE” Investing Matters panel session at the Master Investor Show at 3.30pm on Saturday 9th March with host Peter Higgins. About the show - Master Investor Events. Please book your FREE ticket/s now using the promotion code : LSE

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter & Investing Matters on Linkedin.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter

Welcome to the 55th episode of the Investing Matters series with Peter Higgins @conkers3 on Twitter.

Where you the global Investing Matters audience, are going to hear about the inspiring and tenacious journey of the classically trained musician, turned financial media multiple award winning leading light Iona Bain.

Topics and matters discussed include:

-Why Iona became a young person’s personal finance advocate;-Why she set up in her award-winning blog, the Young Money Blog

-Why she set up the Young Money Agency with her Dad

- One the best moments of her personal and professional life;- Overview of her second book: Own it! How our generation can invest our way to a better future

-Why we need to invest for the future;- How to we should invest

-The Covid lockdown young investors boom;-IPSE Freelancer of the Year-Owning an independent perspective

-Why personalised realistic investment targets are required

-“Are pensions sexy?” Future funds for young people

-The Lifetime ISA (LISA), getting on the property ladder;-Paying off a mortgage

-BBC Morning Live, money expert role;- Find out why Iona credits her musical education with being very useful in her personal finance media career

- Dyscalculia and being an Ambassador for the National Numeracy Organisation

-Education and innovation of financial services for younger people

-Appearing on Question Time as a panel guest with Fiona Bruce;-File on 4: The flagship investigative programme for BBC Radio 4

-Young-ISH Money

-Why Iona believes you should “keep money in your head and not in your heart”

-Iona’s own personal investing strategy, stocks, shares, ETFS, Investment Trusts, passive investing and much more

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to the 53rd episode of the Investing Matters series with Peter Higgins, @conkers3 on Twitter/X.

In this episode, learn how Michael’s tenacity became his foundation, as “nothing came naturally to him” and it was this tenacity that drove him from Waitrose/John Lewis Partnership (retail) to Natwest Bank (Retail Branch Banking) rather than going to university.

Having gained finance experience from 1985, listen to how a serendipitous train journey supercharged his ambitious goal of working on a trading floor. He went on to work in trading treasuries, equities, forex dealing, sales, account management, certified technical analysis, professional and teaching technical analysis.

He joined Digital Look in 2006 and was involved in writing commentary, product developments, market data and trading products. In 2007, CMC Markets acquired Digital Look and his trading expertise enabled Michael to engage with Product management, writing content and much more before gradually gaining and growing into the role of Chief Market Analyst.

With over 30 years' experience in the financial markets, Michael is respected for his candid and direct market commentary. He's a well-known face on both financial and mainstream TV, appearing regularly on BBC News, Bloomberg, SKY, CNBC, CNN, Fox Business and several other outlets in the UK, North America and the Middle East.

His primary focus is on providing fundamental and technical analysis on the daily movements in financial markets, as well as research articles focused on topical financial and economic issues. Michael also participates in regular trading webinars for clients and has delivered seminars across the country.

With his background in FX trading, Michael spent six years trading currencies, with a particular emphasis on charting and technical analysis. Before joining CMC Markets, he spent over 12 years delivering technical analysis education and support to experienced traders, private investors, corporate and retail clients, for a market data company.

Therefore, all of our Investing Matters global audience are in for absolute treat as Michael gives an overview of CMC Markets, the multiple awarding winning platform for committed CFD and spread betting traders.

-He explains why risk management is at the core of everything you do;

-Trading and Investing are two completely different mindsets;

-Macro : The importance of Fundamental Analysis;

-The importance of Technical Analysis;

-Support and Resistance;

-Moving Averages;

-Learning from negative trading and investing days;

-What are lagging indicators;

-Long-term trends;

-False positives;

-Use of Stop-Loss;

-Building long-term resilience;

-Patience and Time;

-His greatest trading lessons;

-Trading Bonds;

-Trading Equities / Stocks;

-Trading Forex /FX / Currencies;

-The importance of psychology;

-Why countless Banks invest in technical analysis;

-The importance of continual learning, investing and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

With that in mind, welcome to the 51st episode of the Investing Matters series with me Peter Higgins @conkers3 on Twitter. As a global Investing Matters audience, you are all in for an absolute treat because this interview is with one of the UK’s most highly respected and sought after professionals and leader, Keith Hiscock the CEO of Hardman & Co. A London based multi-disciplinary financial consultancy and investment research firm, which employs highly experienced analysts and professionals with a broad range of capital markets expertise.

Keith Hiscock could quite easily have had a career in Politics having attained a Master's Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. As everyone knows Oxford has a huge reputation via its PPE graduates of producing UK Prime Ministers, Chancellors of the Exchequer, Government Cabinet Ministers and Politicians.

He had however fixed his career ambitions firmly to working in the Investment industry. Commencing his career journey in 1979 as a graduate trainee at James Capel stockbrokers followed by Equity sales and corporate roles at Wood McKenzie, Hoare Govett, Laing & Cruickshank and Schroder Salomon (CitiBank) to 2001. Laying the foundations in the City as a shrewd client first focused professional.

This led to in 2001 Keith being head-hunted for the role of CEO of Metzler Bank, Germany’s oldest bank with an unbroken tradition of family ownership. Followed by in 2002 to 2009 when he firstly took the role as Head of Equity Sales at Panmure Gordon and then the same role at Evolution Securities. After which in 2009 he became a founding partner for the independent research firm Agency Partners. In late 2012 Keith was part of a group of investors that acquired Hardman & Co which he and his colleagues have since nurtured into the longest established commissioned research provider in the UK. Working with the world’s biggest investment institutions, Stock Exchanges and private companies and retail investors.

Please listen now to learn how Keith Hiscock CEO of Hardman & Co, successful navigated nearly four decades of the volatile investment markets. Keith shares lessons learnt from his roles within Stockbroking, Equity Sales, Corporate roles, leader and CEO to enable others to identify quality companies, he explains why it is important to work out what type of business a company is involved in, its dividend cover, free cashflow, stage of growth & more. He stresses why it is important to fully read releases/statements via the Regulatory New Service (RNS) of the companies you own, plus why the careful use of language and tone within a RNS are vital to identify.

Keith shares an overview of Hardman & Co, where as CEO he leads a multi-disciplinary financial consultancy and investment research firm, which employs highly experienced analysts and professionals with a broad range of capital markets expertise. He explains how his highly skilled team, complete commissioned differentiated research on quoted and private companies, assess and gauge the appropriate price for an IPO, consultancy, confidential work, Woodford valuations, the ESG mini-industry, EIS solutions and its hugely respected and globally recognised research role.

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With that in mind, welcome to the 50th episode of the Investing Matters series with me Peter Higgins @conkers3 on Twitter. As a global Investing Matters audience, you are all in for an absolute treat because this interview is with one of the true Scottish, UK and global heavyweights of the independent asset management industry. None other than the multiple award-winning Martin Gilbert FRSE, co-founder and former CEO of Aberdeen Asset Manager and the Executive Chairman of AssetCo Plc.

Martin Gilbert, the humble and proud Chartered Accountant, was educated at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen, he then attended the same Law School as Alistair Darling (the former Chancellor of the Exchequer) at the University of Aberdeen, where is gained his law degree and his master’s degree in accountancy. After university, he joined Deloitte and qualified as a chartered accountant.

In 1982, he joined the investment department of local law firm Brander & Cruikshank, and a year or so later, with two others undertook a management buyout of its investment department. The new entity was called Aberdeen Fund Managers and had initial share capital of just £10,000 with £70m of assets under management, because as Martin now describes it in the 1980’s asset managers were a “small cottage industry”

Martin co-founded Aberdeen Fund Managers / Aberdeen Asset Management PLC in 1983 and was Chief Executive Officer from 1991 to 2017 (making him one of the longest serving CEO’s at the time). During that period Aberdeen Asset Management PLC grew, through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisition, to become one of the world’s leading independent asset managers with £308 billion of AUM.

In 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management PLC merged with Standard Life plc, to become Standard Life Aberdeen plc. On merging, Standard Life Aberdeen plc was the biggest UK-based asset management company and the second biggest in Europe. Martin was co-chief executive officer and subsequently vice chairman until he retired from Standard Life Aberdeen plc in September 2020. Martin is chairman of Revolut Ltd and Toscafund, deputy chairman of River and Mercantile Group PLC and senior independent director of Glencore plc, Chair of Scottish Golf, alongside several other directorships.

Please listen now to learn how Martin Gilbert FRSE, the shrewd dealer maker grew Aberdeen Fund Managers into the global investment firm that we knew as Aberdeen Asset Management. Martin shares lessons learnt from encountering significant lows, including his now dislike of geared investing products/ structures and his huge successes as a CEO and leader. He explains how he identifies transformational deals, the very best fund Managers and how he retains them. Why recurring revenues are vital, the successful straits required in order to achieve long-term investing success as a CEO, fund manager and an investor. Why ESG is important, being Chairman of The Net Zero Technology Centre and its role in the energy industry. His current favourite investing markets, plus why he sees huge value in UK mid cap and even more value in the UK small cap.

Martin shares an overview of Assetco Plc, a holding company for a group of wealth and asset management companies, for which he has a goal of growing into a FTSE 250 listed company. Given what Martin achieved with Aberdeen Asset Management and with the wisdom given to him by none other than Sir Alex Ferguson, I’d say that with the foundations already laid across, Active Equities, Infrastructure Asset Management, Exchange Traded Funds and Digital Platform that there is every possibility that Assetco goes onto achieve significant success.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

With that in mind, welcome to episode forty-nine of the Investing Matters series with me Peter Higgins @conkers3 on Twitter. As I speak with with over 30 years investment industry expert, Gabrielle Boyle, the Investment Director, Head of Research and Fund Manager at Troy Asset Management who has done precisely that, even to the extent of outperforming Nick Train’s, Lindsell Train Global Equity Fund on a total returns’ basis over the past 10 years.

Gabrielle, graduated from University College Dublin gaining a BA. (Honours Degree) in History and Economics and then attained her Master’s Degree in Economics. Afterwards she “literally sent hundreds of applications” and eventually Gabrielle gained her first job working for Royal Insurance Asset Management arm. Where she amassed a fantastic grounding across many of the major investment, asset classes and sectors.

Gabrielle then worked at Lazard Asset Management for 17 years where you attained the position of Senior Managing Director and was responsible for Global and European portfolios. Followed by a briefly spell with spell with NewSmith Capital Partners.

In late 2011 Gabrielle joined Troy Assessment Management and was given control of the then £59 million Trojan Capital fund from Sebastian Lyon and Francis Brooke. Now known as the Trojan Global Equity Fund it is as of July 2023 a circa £463 million fund, having achieved significant success under Gabrielle’s stewardship.

Please listen now as how Gabrielle Boyle has outperformed lots of her Fund Manager peers, gain an insight and overview into the winning methodology, philosophy and strategies of Troy Assessment Management, the Trojan Global Equity Fund and the Electric and General Investment Fund. The importance of finding adaptable, resilient compounding long-term winners, ESG, Tech, Fintech, the privilege and responsibility of looking after investors capital.

Find out how Troy AM are supporting charities, Gabrielle’s Trustee role with the Charity, Launch It and her significant involvement and passion for the charity called GAIN (Girls Are Investors). Why reading is a gift, the incredible power of compounding outstanding investment returns. The competitive advantage of working in a small team, the high hurdle rate of stock selection. Stocks discussed include, Alphabet/Google, Meta, Fiserve, RELX, Experian and more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to episode forty-eight with Iain Barnes the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Netwealth. Iain and podcast host Peter Higgins (@Conkers3) chat about an array of topics including Netwealth's investment approach, known as the "Three Pot Theory".

He is a passionate believer in the importance of disciplined efficiency in delivering attractive returns to clients. As CIO, Iain advocates for scalable and diversified investment strategies implemented in a cost-effective manner.

Iain joined Netwealth at the beginning of 2016 to launch the Netwealth investment portfolios in May of that year. He leads the Netwealth investment process and holds responsibility for the positioning and performance of all client portfolios, in addition to communicating the team’s views on markets.

Prior to joining Netwealth, Iain spent 15 years in multi asset investment management, holding senior portfolio manager roles at Schroders and UBS Asset Management. At UBS he was an Executive Director in the Global Investment Solutions division and one of six voting members of the Global Asset Allocation and Currency Investment Committee, responsible for more than £60 billion assets under management.

In this hugely insightful Investing Matters interview you will hear what inspired Iain to join co-founders Charlotte Ransom (CEO) and Tom Salter (COO) at Netwealth at the very beginning, an overview of the technology enabled framework of Netwealth, their methodology and philosophy, the Three Pot Theory, what his role as CIO entails, benefits of a hybrid technology lower cost efficient investing approach predominantly utilising ETFS, compounding returns faster, Pensions service, the benefits of the Netwealth network, Socially Responsible Investing, ESG Investing, winning passive strategy approach to gaining exposure to soaring U.S. markets and global themes, efficiency of AI tools. Netwealth’s latest innovative free offering ‘My Netwealth’, his own personal investing strategy and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews, each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode forty-seven with Alex DeGroote, a highly rated sell-side Media, Internet and Tech (TMT) investment analyst with 27 years of Investment experience. A History graduate from Durham University, Alex went onto to attain his master’s degree in European Management Studies from the London School of Economics.

Alex commenced working in the Investment industry in 1996. He has worked for a number of European banks and stockbrokers. In Equities, Fund management and corporate broking/finance, learning the tricky arts and science of valuation.

During his career Alex worked for the following companies: Starting as a graduate with the Midlands based Albert E Sharp, a Securities and Wealth Management firm; Charterhouse Bank, where he worked alongside an equally then young Phil Oakley. He also worked at ING; Credit Agricole; Panmure Gordon; Peel Hunt; Cenkos Securities; Arden Partners.

He has published extensive research and valuations on various sector topics, on behalf of City employers. Alex is also a published author himself, and has been a contributor to the Financial Times, The Guardian, MediaTel, Campaign, Digiday, Flashes and Flames. Given his experienced roles that involved working with the likes of Rightmove, Reach, GoCompare, WPP, STV and numerous other companies. Alex’s view on TMT matters is sought by Bloomberg, CNBC, BBC, and others. He is a keynote speaker in the investment industry conferences, in the UK and overseas.

In this fascinating Investing Matters interview, Alex shares his world view of investing globally across equities, investment companies, Funds, ETFs. He explains how to go about valuing a company, sustainability of operating margin, why management is key, nuances of Corporate Broking and Finances, debt. Companies discussed include Rightmove, WPP, Cab Payments, Microsoft, Google/Alphabet, Nvidia. Seeking multiple recurring revenues, scalability, the importance of analysing balance sheet, why UK markets are lowly valued, Mifid2, why liquidity is a big issue,

Alex also shares his own personal investing strategy, passion for tech, global markets, why he avoids home bias, why he is overweight US assets, the importance financial education and digital skills, the power of compounding investments and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode forty-six with Mike McCudden, a former Senior Market Maker, Head of Products, Institutional Sales, multi-skilled business professional and now CEO of InfinitX and JP Jenkins.

Mike attended Glasgow Caledonian University where he attained a BA Honours Degree in Risk Management, and this whetted his appetite for financial risk management. His first job was working for McDonald’s before gaining a job with Aitken Campbell & Co assisting the Market Maker, before gaining his own book as a Market Maker, setting prices and creating liquidity. Aitken Campbell & Co was taken over my Charles Schwab and Mike held a role as a Senior Market Maker.

After earning a reputational as a hugely successful Senior Market Maker, executive positions as Regional Head of Scotland for CMC Markets, Institutional Sales at IG and Head of Products with Interactive Investor followed before Mike joined technology company Crowdx now known as InfinitX, which exists to power private markets.

It this hugely informative Investing Matters interview you will hear of Mike’s passion for technology, his “best job ever”, insights of being a Market Maker, learnings from across the markets, institutional relationship management, sales team management, corporate strategy, specialist products, public markets, working for an online broker. His journey with the pure technology play, private market financial trading ecosystem of InfinitX, helping companies raising finance, transition towards the IPO process, their purchase of JP Jenkins a public market but for private companies venue and their vast potential regarding enabling investing alongside entrepreneurs, startups and unlisted companies, corporate financing for a multi-trillion-dollar market including creating liquidity for the global behemoth Private Equity entities as a matched bargain facility. His personal investing strategy, patient capital dividend investing style, decision making process, thoughts on Artificial intelligence, Nasdaq and London Stock Exchange investments in secondary markets and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode forty-three with Victoria Scholar, the double award-winning Head of Investment at Interactive Investor – the UK’s second largest direct to consumer investment platform. She has a wide-ranging broadcast remit discussing the daily business news agenda, investment strategy and asset allocation, collective investments and direct shares, as well as macro-economics and markets.

Previously Victoria was a financial journalist with IG Group and presented the business news at the IGTV broadcast channel. She has a background as a producer for Bloomberg and broadcast journalist for CNBC and BBC and is in demand as a financial and markets commentator for major TV networks in the UK and across the world with regards to business, finance and economics.

Victoria started her career on the trading floor in the square mile at the investment bank Nomura. She holds a degree in Economics from University of Bristol and a broadcast journalism masters’ degree from City University, London. She is also an award-winning technical analyst, having received the Bronwen Wood prize in her Society of Technical Analysis Diploma. This year Victoria also you won the coveted CityAM Analyst of the Year award, the Judges said Victoria, “offers a plain English approach to financial news, translating complex City moves for a wider audience”.

In this Investing Matters interview, Victoria gives an overview of Interactive Investor, catalyst for the UK economy, Interest rates, Inflation, Tools used by the Bank of England, Risks, China’s growth outlook, Secondary effects, Food inflation, Competition within the retail sector, Bank sector risks and opportunities, the Jurassic Park index, UK listings, regular investing, Forex, geopolitical risks, the benefits of long-term investing, why a well-diversified portfolio is key, managing your emotions, importance of investing psychology and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode forty-two with Charlie Huggins, Head of Equities and the manager of the Wealth Club’s recently launched Quality Shares Portfolio.

Charlie joined Wealth Club in April 2022 from Hargreaves Lansdown, where he worked for over a decade, having joined their Graduate Scheme, straight from Oxford University. He was given in-depth exposure and insights around the Hargreaves Lansdown business. After his rotation around the business, he joined the Research team working initially as a Fund Research Analyst.

With his talents identified, Charlie was quickly made the Fund Manager for the HL Select UK Growth and Income Funds, managing around £500 million of assets. Charlie is a CFA Charterholder, and also holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) and a Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning. Charlie studied Biochemistry at Oxford University, gaining a First Class Master’s Degree.

In this Investing Matters interview, Charlie gives a brief overview of Wealth Club, their investing philosophy and methodology. He shares his views on researching and evaluating the best long-term investments for the Quality Shares Portfolio that he manages and his investing methodology. Other insights from Charlie include his 60-point checklist, high conviction portfolio, importance of a company’s Business Management, Management Culture, Capital Allocation, Balance Sheet, growing strong free Cashflow, sell discipline and companies that meet his high-quality benchmark. He also shares his personal investing style, strategies, lessons learned and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode forty-one with Danni Hewson, the Head of Financial Analysis at AJ Bell, one of the UK's leading investment platforms. Danni joined the AJ Bell in 2021 and works across television, radio and online platforms as a commentator and writer delivering insight and analysis across UK, Global business and financial sectors.

Danni has vast experience and insight from her 19 years working at the BBC, presenting and reporting on business news across a variety of programmes including BBC Breakfast, BBC News Channel, BBC Look North and latterly Radio 5 Live's flagship business programme "Wake up to Money".

Danni has a passion for making financial reporting understandable and relevant to all audiences and always provides a high level of financial and economic expertise. She was instrumental in setting up AJ Bell's Money Matters campaign which is aimed at helping women become more confident with their finances and narrow the £1.65 trillion gender investment gap. Danni is also the co-host alongside Head of Personal Finance, Laura Suter of the excellent Money Matters podcast.

In this Investing Matters interview, Danni provides our global Investing Matters audience with her fascinating journey from Local Radio, entertainment journalism (interviewing superstars including Will Smith, Gary Oldham, Susan Sarandon, Sting, Tom Jones to name but a handful), mainstream news focused journalism at ITN including her harrowing 9/11 experience. Greatest learning gained from her time at the BBC including politics, business and the financial crash.

The important skill of explaining finances so that everyone understands, “making the complicated simple”, embarking on her “first job in finance” at AJ Bell, fantastic and inspiring leader Andy Bell, Bonds, Pensions, ETFS, Stocks, Dividends, ESG Investing, Diversification of investments, household finances, mortgages, inflation, understanding the importance of finance, starting early and compounding investments, the importance of financial literacy, One ISA, Disney, Netflix and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode thirty-nine with the author, award-winning investment journalist Moira O'Neill. Moira was previously Head of content at Interactive Investor, Editor at Moneywise, Personal Finance Editor at the Financial Times’ Investors Chronicle magazine and Deputy Editor at Money Observer. Moira is an independent freelance investment and money writer, editor and presenter, a columnist for the Financial Times, FT Money, contribute to the FT Money Show podcast and a regular contributor to TV and radio programmes. Moira has been educating savers and investors for around 25 years now. She was the winner of the Wincott Journalism Award in 2012. Moira has also written two personal finance books, Finance at 40 and Saving and Investing for Your Children. She read Classics at Cambridge University.

In this Investing Matters interview, Moira provides the listener with a wonderful, guided tour of how all investors can navigate the markets safely, in tax efficient way, the powers of compounding return, pound cost averaging, dividends, Funds, Investment Trusts, dividend heroes, diversification, funds, how to combat some of the psychological aspects of investing, her own personal investing strategies and discusses what truly matters to her with regards to investing and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode thirty-eight, which is with the founder of and former CEO of video technology firm Blinkx, entrepreneur and General Partner of Venture Capital firm Balderton Capital, technologist Suranga Chandratillake OBE.

Suranga joined Balderton Capital as a General Partner in 2014. He was previously an entrepreneur and engineer. Suranga founded blinkx, the intelligent search engine for video and audio content in Cambridge in 2004. He led the company for eight years as CEO through its journey of moving to San Francisco, building a profitable business and going public in London where it achieved a peak market capitalisation in excess of $1Bn. Before founding blinkx, Suranga was an early employee at Autonomy Corporation - joining as an engineer in the Cambridge R&D team and ultimately serving as the company's US Chief Technology Officer in San Francisco

Suranga has a MA in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge. He holds patents in the area of video discovery and online video advertising and was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering’s annual Silver Medal for his work in the field. He was also elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2012 and was chosen as one of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders in 2009.

In 2017, Suranga joined the UK Government's Council for Science and Technology. Suranga was granted an OBE for services to technology and engineering in the 2018 UK New Year's Honours.

Due to his technology acumen, innovative know-how, entrepreneurial flair and expertise, Suranga has travelled the world as a serial entrepreneur, businessman, professional investor and tech leader. He currently sits on the Board of several companies.

In this Investing Matters interview, Suranga gives an overview of Balderton Capital, their unique partnership structure, how they back Europe's startups /founders from Seed to IPO. Why being “A low frequency high conviction investor” leads to greater success. We discuss some of Balderton’s major investment successes and why some did not achieve their full potential. Why an IPO is not a goal or exit or an end point? His experiences of the dot com boom and bust. Starting Blinkx and quickly garnering and attaining the attention of some of the largest tech companies of its day. His main/ biggest lessons learnt, why he is a passionate advocate for continual learning and the charitable causes he supports. We discuss generative AI, its huge opportunities and where investors should focus for the potential of long-term investing outperformance.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode thirty-seven, which is with the tireless, tenacious and hugely success former Navy veteran, turned serial entrepreneur, businessman, charity champion, philanthropist, business advisor, business owner and professional investor Mike McGeever.

Mike has over 35 years’ experience in the Navy, facilities and security sectors. Prior to his retirement in 2015 he was the Managing Director and founder of Transguard Group LLC, a UAE based Security and Facilities Management company. Mike describes starting Transguard with zero employees then helping it to grow into becoming one of the largest security companies in the world, at times moving $2 billion a day, whilst employing 55,000 staff when it was sold as, “the best 13 years of his life”.

Prior to this he held senior positions in a range of security and facilities management focused companies. Mike is “a northerner” raised in Manchester, he holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Portsmouth. He has a great affinity with the area, due to his time in the Royal Navy during which he was based in Portsmouth. It was Mike’s affinity with the area and his Naval history that led to him with Andy Burdon investing in the area. They painstakingly invested several years and significant amounts of the own personal wealth into turning a historic gunpowder magazine building in nearby Gosport into an award-winning operational brewery and social event space which they co-founded together called the “Powder Monkey Brewing Co”.

Mike has travelled the world and is a serial entrepreneur, businessman and professional investor, retirement just does not suit this Northern fighter. He is currently involved in several private / unlisted companies and invested personally in several listed companies and entities globally.

In this Investing Matters interview, Mike provides an overview of his business and leadership journey to achieving his financial freedom at a young age, why retirement did not suit him. What leadership qualities he looks for in companies he backs or invests in, the importance of employing the best people, inclusion, Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG, paying it forward via Charities and local initiatives. His greatest investment successes, his greatest investment mistakes and lessons learnt. The stocks and shares listed in the UK and globally that he views have long-term winning potential and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode thirty-six, which is with the hugely talented Sydney, Australia based Jessica Amir, a Market Analyst with the Multi-asset investment specialist Saxo Markets, a subsidiary of Saxo Bank.

After her academic studies, Jessica interests in the investments were inspired by her Dad and she started working firstly with him then her Uncle who was an Independent Financial Advisor. During that time she qualified as financial planner. This led to Jessica joining and gain roles and extensive experience at firms including AMP (with many Ultra High Net Worth Individuals), Commonwealth Bank, and Suncorp. Where she learnt many skills and “cut her teeth” in investing. 

Jessica then began educating individuals about investing and about property initially via her own blogs and then via her own radio show whilst still working as financial planner. The success of this led to her getting a big break in media. Jessica went on to have an extensive broadcast career with experience with Sky News, ABC, Seven Network and Nine Network, where she interviewed Prime Ministers including Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd as well as Federal Treasurers and numerous ASX 200 CEOs. 

In 2019 Jessica joined Bell Direct as a Market Analyst with the responsibility for providing in-depth market and stock selection analysis to identify trading and investment opportunities for Bell Direct clients. Jessica’s time at Bell Direct encompassed the Covid lockdown for many in Australia and globally. During which noticed a very different investor behaviours including the rush towards trading meme stocks. In late 2021 Jessica joined Saxo Markets which is a subsidiary of Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank as a Market Analyst which she really enjoys as no two days are the same as part of a multi-skilled team. 

In this Investing Matters interview, Jessica provides an overview of Saxo markets, its services and functions, her multi-faceted ever evolving Market Analyst role, commodities and their correlation with the US. Dollar, Forex, Electric vehicles, Tesla, Aluminium, Copper, Iron Ore, Lithium, Commodity Supercycle, running client scenarios, green transformation, ESG, Rio Tinto, Coal, Gold, ETFs, Inverse relationships between Bond yields + $USD + Gold, Self-Managed Super Funds, Women in ETFs, observational investing, importance of cashflow growth, Whitehaven Coal, Fortescue Metals. The importance of mental clarity enhanced by a fitness regime. Jessica’ personal investing strategies, style and much more.

 We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter. 

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode thirty-five, which is with the hugely talented James Deal, the co-Founder and Head of UK of the awarding winning FCA-regulated online platform PrimaryBid.

James attained his Business Economics BA Honours Degree at Durham University. During his degree he was very fortunate to have spent a placement with Hoare Govett’s Bank in Hong Kong.  

Before joining PrimaryBid, he spent 14 years in UK Equities and Investment Banking at JP Morgan Cazenove in London (Canary Wharf). He had 10 years as Head of UK Small/Mid Cap Sales before moving from the public to the private side of the business to work in Equity Capital Markets and to run UK Corporate Broking. Previously, a Director at Numis Securities helping to build a leading Mining franchise within a UK focused business at the small and mid-cap end of the markets. Prior to this James worked at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson as part of their leading Broking and Advisory franchise. 

In this Investing Matters interview, James provides an overview of PrimaryBid, its rapidly growing technology driven global solutions, importance of meeting management, importance of people, important of liquidity, nurturing the retail element, partnerships ethos with all distribution partners, technology led growth, Capital Markets, raising capital, Stakeholder inclusion, Public markets, B2C solutions, B2B / Institutional solutions, companies worked it, challenges faced, bringing finance and technology together. PrimaryBid’s USA and global ambitions. His stellar career prior to PrimaryBid, Public equity markets, Corporate broking, thriving during adversary, his personal investing style/strategy and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter. 

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode thirty-four, hugely talented Andy Brough, the Head of the Pan-European Small and Midcap Team at Schroders as well as the Lead or co Fund Manager for several funds within that team.

After his gaining Economics Degree at Manchester University, Andy started his career in accounting. Gained his qualification as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse, where he worked with numerous exceptional companies. Andy joined Schroders in June 1987 as an UK equity Fund Manager and in your own words, “started managing money in January 1989”. From November 1999 he managed the well-known Schroder UK Mid 250 Fund. With over 35 years of investment industry expertise, Andy rightfully holds an enviable and much respected reputation in the City.

In this Investing Matters interview, Andy gives a brief overview of Schroders, the Pan-European Small and Midcap Team products, discusses being custodians of other people’s money, the ability of spotting things early, no substitute for hard work, numbers matter, property crash, avoid stocks of “hope”, the importance a rising fundamentals, always learning, triangle research process / methodology, the 3Ps, blending strategies, the Heineken index, emotionless selling strategy, buying strategy, Games Workshop, Frasers, ME Group, why culture of a firm is critical, looking for evolving businesses, his personal investing strategy, a 66 times return on investment and much more.   

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter. 

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode thirty-three, which is with the hugely talent Fatima Iu a fund manager on the Polar Capital Technology Fund, Polar Capital Technology Trust and Polar Capital Automation and Artificial Intelligence Fund

Fatima, read Chemistry at Imperial College London, with particular interest/focus on medical applications such as diagnostics. Where she attained a Masters in medicinal chemistry. After which went into Accountancy, as a good way to learn some basics on business and finance, whilst also gaining the opportunity to work with an interesting mix of clients – from metals and futures trading to investment banking. This is also where she first learned about investing – through clients such as LCF Rothschild, EBRD and Soros Quantum Fund.

From there Fatima move on with a job as a junior associate at Citigroup Asset Management. Looking at mostly European consumer staples and discretionary, learned about modelling, working out what questions to ask companies and leaders. Fatima started doing my Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification at the same time to support her transition into fund management. Unfortunately, during her tenure at Citigroup, the division she worked in was sold to Legg Mason in the US.

As fate would have it Polar Capital’ Lead Manager, Ben Rogoff who heads up the Technology franchise at Polar together with Nick Evans, was looking for a junior to join the team, “someone who knows a bit of the basics, who was interested and willing to learn”, and Fatima fitted the bill.

Fatima Iu joined Polar Capital in April 2006 and now has 17 years’ industry experience. Fatima is a fund manager within the Polar Capital Global Technology Team she is responsible for the coverage of European Technology, Global Security, Networking, Clean Energy and Medical Technology. She is also a CFA Charterholder.

In this Investing Matters interview, Fatima a brief overview of Polar Capital, its sheer scale, some of its functions and services, her various specialist roles a Fund Manager with the Polar Capital Global Technology team and its 3 products. Fatima imparts aspects of Polar’s analytical methodology and process undertaken when selecting investments, including tech behemoths Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, clean technology, the power of Artificial Intelligence, ESG and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode thirty-two, hugely talented, and sought after thought leader, Panmure Gordon’s Chief Economist, Managing Director and Head of Research, Simon French.

Simon worked for the UK Government, latterly at the Cabinet Office as Chief of Staff to the UK Government COO. He had a central role in implementing the Coalition Government’s spending reforms between 2010 and 2014 as well as working on the UK’s Welfare and Pensions reforms between 2002 and 2008 , plus numerous other national Cabinet Office strategiesand implementations.

Simon joined Panmure Gordon as their Chief Economist in 2015, he is now also a Managing Director and their Head of Research. Panmure Gordon is a UK based investment bank, providing a full range of services including Capital Raising, Corporate Advisory, Corporate Broking, Investor Relations, Research, Sales and Execution with distribution to the UK, Europe and the US. The company has helped its clients raise over £2.5 billion since 2020 and continues to grow its global footprint.

Despite his extremely role at Panmure Gordon, Simon is also a columnist for the Times Newspaper and is regularly interviewed for Economic and financial insights by Bloomberg, CNBC, BBC, SKY, Radio Times and numerous other media outlets.

In this Investing Matters interview, Simon gives a brief overview of the role that Panmure Gordon plays in the Investment industry and across Capital markets, the dynamics of his personal roles as Chief Economist, Managing Director and Head of Research, the importance of economic analysis and macro-economic research “sweet spot”, leadership, Corporate brokerage, Levelling up, Global, National and Regional fundraising, Health of Capital Markets, IPO’s, Capital raising, Quantitative Tapering, Investing themes of 2023, why you shouldn’t try to time the markets, Gold hedge, Sell side analysis, ESG / sustainability. Challenges for listed companies, personal investing strategies, property, growth companies, macro themes, the social function of capital markets, financial independence, second order effects and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode twenty-nine, which is with the hugely talented Steve Clapham. Steve, is a globally recognised forensic accounting expert, author of the Amazon no.1 bestseller book, The Smart Money Method: How to pick stocks like a hedge fund pro and the founder of Behind the Balance Sheet, an investor training and research consultancy. That trains global institutional equity investment professionals and private investors.

Steve trained as an accountant, started out in stockbroking, now he has over 25 years investment analyst experience including time as a partner, head of research at two multi billion dollar hedge funds. Among his many investment industry related activities, Steve is also an equity analyst at Hardman & Co. Where he was part of the group of investors that acquired Hardman & Co in late 2012. He holds a degree in Technology and Business Studies. He also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. 

Because of his globally recognised forensic accounting expertise, Steve is regularly featured in the press, including the Financial Times, the Times, Sunday Times and City AM as well as on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. Steve also produces his own podcast: The Smart Money Method.

Steve is passionate about helping every investor understand how to invest in equities and in this Investing Matters. He conveys: his investment industry journey, privatisation work, looking at new industries that had not previously been listed on the stock market, the essence of gearing, misconceptions of Hedge Funds, Long & Short side of the Hedge Fund book, aspects of Behind the Balance sheet courses and services, we discuss aspects of his book, "The Smart Money Method: How to pick stocks like a hedge fund pro", his 3 pronged investing checklist list, the importance of the "Collection cycle", the psychology of investing, "it is the end of the Ice Age", where can you find stock ideas, the importance of margins, how to spot red flags, his long-term investing exposure to Indian equities and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter. 

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode twenty-five, which is with the hugely talented, author, blogger, presenter and senior investment analyst at Ensemble Capital, Todd Wenning.

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, America, Todd is a senior investment analyst at Ensemble Capital. Before joining Ensemble, Todd was an analyst at Johnson Investment Counsel, where he worked on the firm's SMID cap strategy. Prior to that, Todd was a sell-side analyst at Morningstar, where he led Morningstar's equity stewardship methodology and covered companies in the basic materials, industrials, and consumer sectors. Earlier in his career, Todd worked for The Motley Fool, SunTrust Asset Management, and Vanguard. He holds a BA in History from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

With nearly 20 years of investment industry experience. Todd has been published or quoted in the Financial Times, Barron’s, MorningStar, Investors’ Chronicle, Motley Fool, Financial Analysts Journal and numerous other media outlets. He also the wrote the brilliant book called Keeping Your Dividend Edge (2016) and contributed a chapter to Morningstar's book, Why Moats Matter (2014). Todd.

In this Investing Matters podcast, I discuss with Todd, his methodology for identifying the companies or brands that have the potential for consistent outperformance. The importance of Investing Moats, Quality of Management, importance of compounding investing with a Dividend Edge. How to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of management. The importance of buying the highest quality companies with moats for long-term compounding investment success. The investing philosophy of Ensemble Capital and the Venn Diagram used to explain aspects of their investing strategies. We talk about SPACs, the Metaverse, the Hype cycle, his presentation at the Berkshire Hathaway annual event this year and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode twenty-four, which is with the hugely talented, former CEO of global tech firms Sage, Micro Focus and Chordiant, serial entrepreneur, senior advisor to Blackrock and* Chair of Tech Nation; the UK’s leading growth platform for tech scaleups and entrepreneurs, Stephen Kelly.

*Stephen wears many more hats and more roles.

In June 2020, Stephen Kelly was appointed Chair of Tech Nation; the UK’s leading growth platform for tech scaleups and entrepreneurs. Stephen’s personal commitment to the UK tech sector spans many roles. He is currently Chair of the Science & Technology Honours Committee, Board member of the No 10 Innovation Fellowships programme, a Director at Locum’s Nest, Chair at The Algorithm People, senior advisor to BlackRock, as well as an investor in a portfolio of high-growth companies. 

Stephen is the former CEO of global tech firms Sage, Micro Focus and Chordiant. Stephen was one of the early leaders at Oracle, before joining the start-up team at Chordiant and growing the business to $100m revenues. Chordiant became a tech unicorn in four years, IPO’ing on Nasdaq during Stephen’s tenure as CEO. Stephen went on to scale more global technology companies and is unique as a CEO who successfully grew NASDAQ, FTSE100 and FTSE250 listed companies. 

Stephen has also worked for the UK Government, in the capacity of Business Ambassador for Technology to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as well as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing digital transformation for the UK Government.

An established Chair, Board Director, mentor and investor to many digital businesses and entrepreneurs, Stephen is passionate about building a thriving, diverse UK tech ecosystem, with strong social purpose, that creates opportunities for everyone and solves pressing socioeconomic challenges on a regional, national and global scale.

In this Investing Matters podcast, I discuss with Stephen, how he added approximately $10 billion of value collectively to the companies he led, whilst their CEO. His long-held focus on the quality product, customer satisfaction and investing in people. His humble beginnings, that drive his passion for giving back, paying it forward and working with disadvantaged communities, brilliantly encapsulated in the formation and growth the Sage Foundation during his tenure as CEO. As a smart, shrewd entrepreneur Stephen also continues investing in start-ups, entrepreneurs, women led businesses and innovation. Stephen tells us why he thinks the UK can be a future global technology superpower and much more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode twenty-three, which is with the hugely talented, former professional football player, five times capped former English international player, Crystal Palace Football Club legend & 1st team coach, former SKY Sports football commentator, Property Finance and Media consultant, John Salako.

John Salako played as a midfielder from 1986 until 2005. He played in the Premier League for Crystal Palace, Coventry City, Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic, and in the Football League for Swansea City, Fulham, Reading and concluded his football playing career at Brentford in 2005. He represented England at senior level, earning five caps, all during 1991 while he was a Crystal Palace player.

From 2005 to 2015 John was a football presenter with Sky Sports, he's gone on to forge a significant media career

From 2009 to 2015, alongside his punditry work, John coached within Crystal Palace's youth academy as well as for a spell with the first team. John started property investing during his playing career and has experienced the high and lows of the property market.

In this Investing Matters podcast, I discuss with John, his fascinating football career, his investing style, property investing, his passion for giving back, the important charities he supports, his business investments/interests, NFTs, Tesla & Apple shares, his mentors and inspirations, Gareth Southgate, Steve Coppell, Mark Bright, Ian Wright, Kevin Keegan, financial education, dealing with setbacks and more.

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand-new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode twenty-one, which is with the hugely talented, award-winning Fund Manager and Author, Gervais William, Head of Equities at Fund Management group Premier Miton.

As Managing Director of Premier Miton Group plc and one of the most sought-after prescient commentators in the City of London, Gervais Williams has also written three books, Slow Finance (2011) and The Future is Small (2014) and The Retreat of Globalisation: Anticipating Radical Change in the Culture of Financial Markets. (2016), all of which I highly recommend our listeners to purchase.

Gervais has been an equity portfolio manager since 1985, His career includes five years with Throgmorton Investment Management (later part of the Framlington Group), three years with Thornton Investment Management (part of Dresdner Bank) and 17 years with Gartmore Group Ltd where he was head of UK Small Companies investing in UK smaller companies and Irish equities. He has a long history of generating premium returns. Enabling him to win and receive many awards, including the Grant Thornton Quoted Companies’ Investor of the Year Award in twice; the Diverse Income Trust plc was recognised as the Best New Investment Trust by the Association Investment Companies when it was set up; and in 2014 he was adjudged to be What Investment’s Fund Manager of the Year.

Gervais is a member of the AIM Advisory Council, and a board member of the Quoted Companies Alliance. Following the Neil Woodford/ Patient Capital Trust debacle he was a member of the Patient Capital Review panel with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer and others.

In this Investing Matters podcast, I discuss with Gervais, how he identifies undervalued small cap stocks, the advantages of investing in small listed companies and investment funds and investment trusts, the importance of assessing the quality of leaders of businesses, the Neil Woodford/ Patient Capital debacle, why is investors should be mindful of companies overburdened with debt, his investing strategies, how he screens for risks to avoid, examples of his investing mistakes and successes, his Fund Management experiences, his books, his passion for small cap investing and much more. 

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.

Welcome to this brand new investing podcast from the London South East. My name is Peter Higgins, you can find me on Twitter @conkers3 and I will be your host for this series of Investing Matters podcasts.

What can you expect from the Investing Matters podcasts? A great question. You will find long form interviews with noteworthy veterans and experts from the investment and fund management industry. During these interviews each interviewee will share and impart their knowledge, learning and insights on what aspects of Investing truly matters to them and what in their view should matter to investors. We hope this knowledge exchange benefits all and enables all those accessing and listening to these podcasts to achieve even greater investing success.

With that in mind, welcome to episode sixteen of the Investing Matter series, which is with the hugely talented and experienced Investment industry expert, Reg Hoare, a Managing Director of Financial PR firm MHP Communications. As the son of a farmer did not have the opportunity to join his Dad in the family business. He instead went to Bristol University, where he successfully completed his Degree in Politics which had a large segment in Economics. The City of London otherwise known as the Investment heartland had been an “alien place” to Reg prior to his studies, now as a graduate seemed, “like the logical place to go”. Therefore, Reg applied for Graduate Trainee opportunities in the City. He was successful in gain a position with Laurie Milbank a Stockbroking Partnership in 1983.

Over the following near forty years, Reg has enjoyed 11 years in Investment Banking and Securities, principally at SG Warburg and Nomura. He switched to financial PR in 1995, currently at MHP Communication, and specialises in advising mid-market companies, from FTSE 250 to AIM 100 across several sectors. He has a long track record of advising in complex situations including IPOs, fund raising, M&A, crises and restructurings. He also served for 8 years as a Board member of the Investor Relations Society, Europe’s leading body for investor relations practitioners.

In this Investing Matters podcast, I discuss with Reg, his current role as a Financial PR professional, his successful long-term investing strategy across small cap stocks, Funds, Investment Trusts, position sizing, top slicing, sector rotation, the psychology of the markets, staying calm during volatile markets, mistakes, emotional attachments, discount to net asset value, diversification, mistakes, why buy and build works, his investing style and much more. 

We hope you enjoy this podcast, and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

Please subscribe to this podcast on your platform of choice and follow the @InvMattPodcast on Twitter.