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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
