Maynard Paton

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23 August 2026
By Maynard Paton

The stock market is littered with sorry start-ups that floated with persuasive growth stories but then failed to deliver.

But very occasionally, a quoted venture does go from nothing to meet its ambitious targets.

Likewise for instance went public during 2019 and at the time claimed it enjoyed “an opportunity to build a business of national scale and over time become a strong alternative to the current larger industry competitors within the sector“.

Seven years later, and Likewise has indeed built a “business of national scale“… and its rapid expansion led by a sector veteran may have actually contributed to the downfall of the industry’s largest operator.

Likewise’s success is all the more remarkable due to its seemingly dull business. The group purchases floor-coverings — carpets, vinyl, laminate, rugs and so on — from manufactures, and then cuts and delivers them to thousands of independent retailers and contractors.

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full LIKEWISE article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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17 July 2026
By Maynard Paton

I am not a great fan of the fund-management industry.

I cannot think of another sector where the employees typically collect enormous salaries while the customers can pay hefty charges yet sometimes get very little in return.

Quite often us amateur investors are much better off with simple index trackers rather than falling for the industry’s persuasive advisers and glossy brochures.

Yet here I am about to study Foresight Group — a fund manager that seems to be defying the wider sector trends of client-money outflows and squeezed management fees.

Foresight has recently appeared on the ShareScope screens I employed to identify Integrafin, James Halstead and Somero Enterprises:

Foresight’s high margin, net cash position, rising profits, modest valuation and significant director shareholdings may be enough to put my industry prejudices aside.

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full FORESIGHT GROUP article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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20 June 2026
By Maynard Paton

Shares trading close to their 52-week lows can often provide lucrative buying opportunities for contrarian investors.

In particular, promising companies that appear temporarily out of favour can generate very worthwhile returns as and when profits recover and the market re-rates the share price.

The other day ShareScope revealed some 458 names trading within 10% of their 52-week lows, with further filtering to find only ‘promising companies’ narrowing the list down to 13:

The exact screening criteria I redeployed were:

• A share price within 10% of its 52-week low;
• Director ownership of at least 5%;
• An operating margin of 15% or more;
• Net borrowings less total leases of no more than 0 (i.e. a net cash position excluding IFRS 16 lease obligations), and;
• A minimum market cap of £25m.

I selected ME Group because this company has for years popped up on my various ShareScope filters and coverage had become very overdue. A recent profit warning meanwhile established a new 52-week low at 100p:

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full ME GROUP article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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17 May 2026
By Maynard Paton

I am once again looking for ‘value bargains’ and revisiting a screen that identifies companies trading at less than book value.

Importantly, this screen attempts to avoid ‘value traps’ by demanding the shares offer net cash, dividend payments and a history of trading above book value.

The exact filter criteria I redeployed were:

• A price to net tangible assets of no more than 1;
• A dividend being paid during the most recent year;
• A 10-year average price to net tangible assets of at least 1;
• Net borrowings less total leases of no more than 0 (i.e. a net cash position excluding IFRS 16 lease obligations), and;
• A share price denominated in pounds sterling.

This time ShareScope returned 20 companies:

I selected SThree because I was very surprised to discover this recruitment agency was trading below book value alongside asset-heavy shares such as house builders.

But sure enough, SThree’s 164p shares were priced a fraction less than the group’s 172p per share net tangible asset value:

I see the shares have in the past traded at beyond 5x net tangible value.

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full STHREE article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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20 April 2026
By Maynard Paton

Can you imagine company directors working for £14.80 an hour?

If not, then say hello to Andrew Page and Andrew Denton, the two primary executives of Alfa Financial Software.

Last year both men collected salaries of just £29k after each committed to being paid only the London Living Wage. Alfa’s 2025 annual report confirmed:

“The Chairman and CEO will continue to have their salaries aligned to the London Living Wage and will receive an increase of 6.6%, marginally below the rate announced by the London Living Wage Foundation of 6.9%. Both have also chosen to waive any variable incentive award or pension contribution for 2026. As significant shareholders, they have expressed a clear preference for their remuneration to remain closely aligned with that of other shareholders.”

I discovered this commendable remuneration after pinpointing Alfa during one of my regular ShareScope searches.

Alfa appeared on an old ShareScope screen that sought respectable companies that had expanded without acquisition:

This screen’s filter criteria demanded:

• Positive five-year turnover and operating profit growth;
• A minimum of 15% for both operating margin and return on equity (ROE);
• Net bank borrowing of no more than zero (i.e. a net cash position), and;
• A five-year acquisition spend of zero.

I selected Alfa because the share was also highlighted by three other ShareScope filters (here, here and here), which suggested the company’s combination of organic growth, high margins, robust ROE, net cash, significant director shareholdings and reasonable valuation was very worthy of further investigation.

Plus there are those two executives on just £29k salaries working at a business that last year reported a £40 million profit.

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full ALFA FINANCIAL SOFTWARE article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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22 March 2026
By Maynard Paton

Oh dear. This ShareScope report has not turned out as I first hoped.

I had wondered whether Brave Bison — an £83 million “next-generation marketing and technology partner for global brands” — might have been a dynamic small-cap suitable for my portfolio.

You see, Bison suddenly loomed into view the other week after acquiring a 28% stake in System1 — an advert-testing business in which I am a shareholder — through a somewhat remarkable transaction.

System1’s founder John Kearon exchanged his entire System1 shareholding for Bison shares worth £7 million, and effectively told the market Bison had become a better investment than his old company.

I therefore asked myself whether I should follow Mr Kearon and switch from System1 into Brave Bison as well.

Indeed, Bison — unlike System1 — appears to be performing very well at present. The group’s January update confirmed net revenue, adjusted Ebitda and net cash had all finished 2025 “ahead of consensus expectations“.

But after delving into Bison’s history, I just could not get comfortable with what has been a very hectic acquisition strategy. Simply put, I don’t foresee Bison delivering the progress necessary to re-rate its shares to a premium valuation.

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full BRAVE BISON article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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21 February 2026
By Maynard Paton

Last month I revisited a ShareScope screen that applied two ratios favoured by ‘quality’ investors — operating margin and return on equity (ROE).

The filtering then returned 19 matches and I opted to study Hollywood Bowl.

This month I have re-run the same ShareScope screen and once again received 19 matches. As a reminder, the primary criteria of this screen are:

• An operating margin (latest and 10-year average) of 20% or more, and;
• An ROE (latest and 10-year average) of 20% or more.

Any business with a margin and ROE of at least 20% is probably quite special.

To narrow the field down further, I also sought companies that carried net cash (i.e. net borrowings excluding IFRS 16 finance leases of less than zero):

This time I selected AJ Bell, primarily because I have been a customer of the investing platform for 25 years. ShareScope also shows AJ Bell registering a wonderful 40%-plus margin and ROE since 2023:

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full AJ BELL article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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23 January 2026
By Maynard Paton

Today I have revisited a ShareScope screen that applies two ratios favoured by ‘quality’ investors — operating margin and return on equity (ROE).

The exact criteria I re-used were:

• An operating margin (latest and 10-year average) of 20% or more, and;
• An ROE (latest and 10-year average) of 20% or more.

Any business with a margin and ROE of at least 20% is probably quite special.

To narrow the field down further, I also sought companies that carried net cash (i.e. net borrowings excluding IFRS 16 finance leases of less than zero):

This time the filter returned 19 matches, including Games Workshop, IG Group, Rightmove, Plus500, Polar Capital, Cerillion, Tatton Asset Management, Record and Jarvis Securities.

I selected Hollywood Bowl because ten-pin bowling did not strike me as an activity that could lead to super operating margins and robust capital efficiency.

But sure enough, ShareScope shows Hollywood Bowl reporting an average 21% margin and average 21% ROE since 2016 — despite the group suffering badly during the pandemic:

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full HOLLYWOOD BOWL article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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20 December 2025
By Maynard Paton

I can’t be the only investor who likes to see directors aligned with ordinary shareholders by owning lots of stock.

Hence this revisit to an old screen to identify companies offering robust financials, respectable growth, a reasonable valuation… and useful insider ownership.

The exact criteria I redeployed for this search were:

• Net borrowings less total leases of no more than zero (i.e. a net cash position excluding IFRS 16 lease obligations);
• An operating margin of 20% or more;
• A five-year uplift to operating profit of at least 50%;
• A forecast P/E of 20 or less, and;
• The board owning at least 10% of the company.

I applied the screen the other day and ShareScope returned only six matches:

I selected GlobalData because:

• The £770 million market cap was the largest on the list;
• The 64% board shareholding was the largest on the list, and;
• The shares were trading 56% below their five-year high.

ShareScope reveals the board’s huge shareholding is held by GlobalData’s chief executive, Michael Danson:

Mr Danson’s stake is currently worth approximately £500 million, and was worth more than £1 billion last year when GlobalData’s shares reached 240p:

Mr Danson might well be very motivated to return to billionaire status, or at least be very motivated not to see his immense wealth deteriorate further.

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full GLOBALDATA article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton

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23 November 2025
By Maynard Paton

I love activists.

The investors who roll up their sleeves and:

• Buy large stakes in underperforming companies;
• Engage with boardrooms to instigate change, and;
• Are prepared to call general meetings to eject sub-par directors.

In a small-cap market awash with tame fund managers, indifferent chief execs and docile chairmen, it seems only those stock-pickers willing to kick up a real fuss are currently able to generate excellent returns from UK smaller companies.

One of this year’s most high-profile activist campaigns was led by Science Group and centred on Ricardo.

Science started buying Ricardo shares during February and by April had invested £32m for a 20% stake. A series of acrimonious RNSs culminated with Science requisitioning a general meeting to oust Ricardo’s chairman and trigger a recovery:

“Following poor operating performance and ineffective governance at Ricardo, resulting in a significant destruction of shareholder value, on 30 April 2025 Science Group requested the Ricardo Board to requisition a general meeting (“General Meeting”) for Ricardo shareholders to consider a single resolution to remove Mr Mark Clare as a director of the Company and Chairman of the Board.

In effect, the General Meeting is a vote of no-confidence in the leadership of the Ricardo Board and to initiate change to enable a positive, shareholder-aligned recovery to benefit all Ricardo shareholders, large and small. The date has now been set for 18 June 2025 and a shareholder circular has been posted by Ricardo.”

The general meeting did not take place because Ricardo agreed to a bid just a week before. The investment outcome for Science was very impressive:

Science’s £32 million investment led to a £24 million pre-tax profit within five months. Not a bad return for a business now capitalised at £240 million at 545p a share:

Prior to Ricardo, Science had undertaken activist positions at two other quoted companies that necessitated RNS ding-dongs and general-meeting requisitions before the targets eventually relented.

Let’s take a closer look.

Read my full SCIENCE GROUP article for ShareScope >>

Maynard Paton