Professor Glen Arnold

On Thursday I bought put options on the Dow Jones Industry Average Index.  The exercise price is 190 and this right to exercise expires on the third Friday in September.   I’ll explain. Let’s start with what a put option is: a right, but not an obligation, to sell the underlying at a fixed price at […]

Given the significant economic and business uncertainties roaming the world, alongside American equities being only slightly lower than in 1929 relative to earnings over ten years, I’ve decided to buy some more insurance against a large drop in markets around the world. I’ll continue to buy deep value UK shares, but also have in place […]

I travelled down from Leicestershire to Swindon on Friday to meet the directors of Connect Group (LSE:CNCT) at the AGM – I was the only non-managerial shareholder (or at least the only one to ask questions). I’ve been a shareholder for about a year and half, but it’s been a bumpy ride: my initial purchases […]

Joseph Piotroski published academic work showing nine accounting variables were useful in differentiating between those firms whose share returns are negatively affected by potential financial distress and those that are likely to outperform based on a good score regarding financial distress indicators. The indicators fall under three headings: (1) Profitability; (2)Leverage, liquidity, and...

J Smart (LSE:SMJ) is a family-run firm.  John M. Smart worked 50 years for the company and dominated it for the 29 years to 2017 as Chairman. He presided over an almost unbroken record of profit. John M. Smart has now retired, but his legacy lives on, in terms of extreme conservatism on the balance […]

Clearly J Smart (LSE:SMJ) has more money than it knows what to do with – see Friday’s newsletter.  The money in bank accounts, shares and other liquid assets is generally not needed for operations. Indeed, the investment property holding division could easily take on some borrowing to finance itself and/or add to the cash pile […]

J Smart (LSE:SMJ), as well as holding a large portfolio of industrial units and offices to rent out has very large sums stored in bank accounts, in stock market shares, in land and in half-finished buildings.  I regard this capital allocation as if it were placed in a business largely separate from the core property […]

At one time J Smart (LSE:SMJ), the Edinburgh-based family-controlled property company, concentrated on being a constructor of commercial property for other organisations. Today, that business is diminishing after years of losses. Now the main attraction for share investors is the large collection of industrial units and offices it owns and rents out in the Scottish […]

J Smart (LSE:SMJ) is a candidate for my Net Current Asset Value portfolio.  At its current share price of £1.12, with its 43.61m shares, it has a market capitalisation of £48.8m. But I estimate NCAV at £89.2m.  It is consistently profitable and has a very low-risk balance sheet. Most of its assets are in industrial […]

I posted this newsletter in June 2016 before the Brexit vote – much of it’s logic is still being played out and so I thought you might want to read it again (and new subscribers can have a look). People are demanding to be presented with “facts” regarding the consequences of Brexit.   In particular, they […]