Professor Glen Arnold

Warren Buffett bought into Gillette just as it was about to get the benefit from years of R&D spend.  This newsletter describes the period after Buffett bought in. It also looks at why Buffett held shares in Gillette after they had more than doubled. The Sensor In October 1989 the Sensor razor was unveiled, offering […]

In the early and mid-1980s Gillette was making good profits and this made the company attractive to a number of Wall Street players who had easy access to vast amounts of debt capital (this the era of the junk bond craze). Ronald O. Perelman, who had taken control of Revlon for $1.8bn the year before, launched […]

The case study I’m going to discuss in a series of newsletters demonstrates the value of recognising economic franchises formed over time by making a deep impression on the minds of consumers; people form attachments to products they have long been familiar with and have come to trust.  Once a brand has this “mind-share” it […]

SpaceandPeople (LSE:SAL) joined the AIM market in December 2004.  It sold 600,000 shares at 50p each (MCap of £5.7m).   These shares rose to £2.20 in 2008, then fell to around the issue price 2009-2012, rising to £1.52 in 2014.  Now they trade at 12p – 14p. This volatility reflects intermittent optimism about the potential of […]

Spaceandpeople (LSE:SAL) is a service business with little need of fixed assets nor large sums tied up in net working capital.  It rents the office space in needs for its 92 staff and does not own much in the way of physical assets. While it needs to invest in the purchase of impressive display stands […]

This SpaceandPeople (LSE:SAL) newsletter will examine the source of sales costs and profits. I’ll start with the basic data on income and cash balances in the past. Revenue, profits and cash £000s   2013   2014   2015   2016   2017   2018 Revenue 14,567 15,446 13,814 9,661 9,995 7,939 Cost of sales -4,023 […]

I’ll use Piotroski’s nine factors aimed at a detecting a trend in financial distress risk to initiate a discussion of SpaceandPeople’s vulnerability to running into serious problems. After all, this share has fallen 92% in five years, which might indicate that Mr Market thinks it is likely to go bust. The nine factors: Did it […]

Last October I bought a handful of shares in SpaceandPeople’s (LSE:SAL). On the surface it seemed like a good bet for my Modified price earning ratio portfolio, but I had not met the directors and so was not willing to make a substantial commitment. A few days ago, I attended the AGM in Glasgow.  There […]

Immediately he bought 80% of the shares in Borsheims in 1989 Warren Buffett gave instruction to “forget that it happened, and just keep doing what you were doing.” That’s it, there was no further instruction according to Donald Yale, a director.  No discussion on crucial matters such as growth plans or management hierarchy and decision-making or […]

Legend has it that Donald Yale (vice president, shareholder and member of the family) prompted Buffett to think about buying Borsheims.  Buffett had shopped there for years, and as Christmas 1988 approached he was looking for a ring. Well-known to the staff, a little banter was normal. While he was looking, Yale yelled out “Don’t […]