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18 October 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 ten-year average) of 20% or more, and;
- An ROE (latest and ten-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 AJ Bell, Alfa Financial Software and Hollywood Bowl. I selected FRP Advisory primarily because the shares have declined 19% during the last twelve months and now trade on a P/E of less than 10x.
Let’s take a closer look.
Read my full FRP ADVISORY article for ShareScope >>Maynard Paton
