Past Events & Webinars

14 November 2024

Investing in the Age of Longevity 2024

We are on the verge of a lifespan revolution. In the next 30 years, life expectancy is going to rise to between 110 and 120.

The nascent but rapidly growing longevity industry has the capacity to change forever how we live, and how (and when) we die. Crucially, it will also influence how we successfully invest for the future.

How can we as investors and advisors prosper in this new era of longevity?

Our masterclass, Investing in the Age of Longevity, offers you the rare chance to find out how you can be involved (and invested) in the birth of a new industry – arguably the greatest investment opportunity of all time.

A packed programme of presentations – all delivered by scientists and business leaders at the cutting edge of the field – ensures you’ll leave the event with valuable learning points to help build your longevity investment portfolio.

9 November 2024

Elections, Budgets and Wars: What does this all mean for the markets?

With the US Election all but confirmed, the UK’s long awaited budget finally announced and ongoing macro-economic and geopolitical turbulence, Victor Hill takes a look at the ramifications of these events and how the markets are responding.

7 November 2024

Can Labour’s taxation and invest for growth mantra succeed in its promises?

Invest. Invest. Invest. Taxation. Taxation. Taxation. Is this the mantra and the reality of the Labour government’s first budget in almost fourteen years?

Financial economist Victor Hill explains whether the current economic climate and the new Chancellor’s measures will reanimate growth in the UK against the country’s debt to GDP ratio of over 100%.

Hill calculates that by the end of the decade, the U.K. will still be rumbling along with a growth rate of around 1.2 to 1.4% which he says is not disastrous. What may put a spanner in the works for UK exporters though is another Trump presidency which has a fondness for tariffs on non-US made products.

While Rachel Reeves’ budget is still being scrutinised, Hill says the market expects more details to come about the measures and headline statements. The Bank of England has capitulated on its interest rate predictions before and time will tell if Reeves, as a former Bank of England economist, will do the same.

18 October 2024

Hercules Site Services forecasts £105m turnover milestone with further growth predicted

Brusk Korkmaz is keen to stress that the company he started in his spare bedroom 16 years ago is very much the shareholders company now.

The business is Hercules Site Services (LON:HERC) and since 2008 the tech enabled construction company has grown every year with the exception of the year when Covid impacted businesses globally.

Korkmaz is delighted with the recent financial milestone the business has achieved – that of the anticipated £105 million turnover for FY24 which is well ahead of market expectations.

“We can confidently say that we are well placed to continue growing organically each year,” says Korkmaz.

Hercules supplies both labour and white collar staff to blue chip clients in the infrastructure and construction sectors. It also has a construction services division where it takes on civil projects in the water industry and has a much-used excavator hire service solution.

Significantly it has novel and modern methods for recruitment. It opened its Construction Academy at the beginning of the year to upskill existing and train up new entrants and has a recruitment app which alerts workers to available opportunities.

With some £775 billion earmarked for investment in the infrastructure and construction sectors over the next 10 plus years, Hercules is positioning itself for opportunity and to help it grow organically and by acquisition it has successfully raised £8 million for that purpose.

17 October 2024

Master Investor Sector Focus: The EV Economy

Despite growth in electric car sales stalling over the last 9 months, electric vehicles are still expected to become more prevalent, with projections that they could make up 45% of global car sales by 2035.

The EV revolution is undoubtedly accelerating, and experts suggest progress lies with developments in the battery. As we look to the future, the landscape of EV batteries is set to undergo dramatic changes, promising increased range, faster charging times and more sustainable solutions.

This webinar brings investors together with the management teams of promising EV-related companies and our industry expert to discuss what the future holds for this dynamic industry.

8 October 2024

Master Investor Sector Focus: Alternative Investments

Paul Fraser Collectibles are the world’s largest private collectibles dealer in the world with over £50m of rare collectibles.

This webinar provides deep insights into building a successful collection and how to profit from it. Further, it considers major market catalysts and tax benefits, purchase and exit strategies and the use of rare collectibles as a portable global currency.

19 September 2024

Master Investor Sector Focus: Technology & AI

In this webinar we offer investors insights into a new era of innovation and investment opportunities in technology and AI.

As we learn to integrate technological advancements into our every day lives, as Nvidia soars to become the most valuable company on the planet, find out how to spot the next AI giant. Hear from our industry expert on what the AI future might hold followed by presentations by some of the most exciting technology growth companies.

With the pace of technological change accelerating faster and faster, make sure your investments keep up.

6 August 2024

Onward Opportunities: Active investing at dawn and dusk

Onward Opportunities Limited (LON:ONWD) was launched in March 2023 and just over one year later the investment company was crowned IPO of the Year at the 2024 Small Cap Awards.

Lead Fund Manager Laurence Hulse can only speculate why his company won the accolade. “We did what we said we would do. We raised some money. We invested it well and we’ve grown as a business and created value.”

Onward’s purpose, says Hulse, is to aggregate a portfolio of investments, an eclectic mix of ideas and opportunities that could generate a lot of value. Indeed over the past twelve months the net asset value of the portfolio has increased by some 20%.

“The return we generated last year was in quite a severe bear market for AIM. This year things are looking a little bit more helpful and robust and reducing political uncertainty, I suspect, again, is helpful. There’s a very, very healthy pipeline of opportunities to go for in H2. We’ve delivered 9% so far in the first six months of calendar year ‘24. Our aim is to try and do the same again in H2.”

Hulse talks about the ‘dawn and dusk’ ethos of the company’s investment strategy giving portfolio constituent the housebuilder Springfield Properties as an example. After trading at “a deep discount to book value after a tough couple of years for house building, now we think that  sort of journey is over”, says Hulse. “Perhaps the shares are overlooked and offer value. So far that’s been the case. The shares are up about 30% from where we bought them and still trade at a pretty clear discount to book value.”

19 June 2024

Master Investor Sector Focus: Oil & Gas

The sources and costs of our energy are occupying legislators, businesses and investors like never before. As governments across the western world seek security of supply at prices which won’t bankrupt their economies, the value of picking good oil and gas companies in which to invest has rarely been clearer. In this webinar Master Investor hears from experts on the oil and gas sector and a range of companies with exciting prospects.

5 June 2024

Small Cap Awards Nominees: Meet the Leading Lights of Aquis Stock Exchange

The Aquis Stock Exchange makes a point of championing entrepreneurship, investment and growth, and this is very much reflected in a particularly strong set of nominees for this year’s Small Cap Awards. This webinar will provide an overview of AQSE and give investors and advisors the chance to hear from and interact with the senior management of the nominees for the Aquis Award.

22 May 2024

Cavendish building a profitable platform in tough markets

Created by the 2023 merger of finnCap and Cenkos Securities, Cavendish Plc’s (LON: CAV) remit as the U.K.’s newest investment house is a large one. 

Joint chief executive Julian Morse describes the business as a ‘full service investment bank’.

“We do everything from the equity capital market side. Look after companies as their brokers, help them raise money, produce research on all of our companies and others in the market, financial advice, but also go right across the spectrum to working with private companies.”

In addition to Cavendish having highly regarded M&A and debt advisory departments, it also has one of the AIM market’s largest equity capital markets tech team.

Tech in all its forms of MedTech, FinTech, MediaTech ad infinitum is one sector that contributes to the myriad small-cap growth companies that are the backbone of the U.K. economy and the ones that Cavendish is keen to support.

Cavendish is however firmly sector agnostic with a laser like focus on supporting small and medium enterprises. The ones that Morse says “foster innovation, entrepreneurialism and effectively give the economy a huge boost”.

Cavendish itself fosters not just innovation, but loyalty keeping all of its client facing personnel and retaining ‘all of that talent’ after the combination of the two brokers which Morse describes as a true merger.

The company is now hiring as it expands ‘cautiously’. By virtue of the business it is and as a listed entity, Cavendish is chasing results deploying “a platform that can be profitable, even in very tough markets”.

Cavendish has been nominated as Broker of the Year in the 2024 Small Cap Network awards.

15 May 2024

Master Investor Sector Focus: Gold & Precious Metals

With global uncertainty has come a renewed interest in precious metals and gold and we discuss the sector outlook with several companies in this space.

16 May 2024

Seraphim: pushing the frontiers of space tech investing

As the world’s first listed space tech fund, Seraphim Space Investment Trust has a first mover advantage in a sector that is starting to get crowded.

Private equity, sovereign wealth funds and climate-related funds are now appreciating what Seraphim had predicted years ago in that space tech provides the utilities required for sustainability, digitisation, climate protection and national defence.

Managing director and chief executive Mark Boggett says with its 126 strong space tech company portfolio Seraphim is “the most prolific and most active investor in the space market”.

He talks about how economies are intrinsically linked to space related activities. “If you were to switch off the satellites”, he says, “the loss to the U.K. over seven days would be $7 billion.”

Boggett says the industry globally is worth $450 billion a year, and a few of the companies in Seraphim’s portfolio have already achieved single digit billion dollar valuations and “there’s plenty of scope for them to be valued in tens of billions and beyond during the course of the next few years and we believe that there is evidence they are heading in that direction”.

He and his team aspire to, and are accustomed to big numbers and big concepts.  Chairman Will Whitehorn was a founding member of Virgin Galactic and advisor to Sir Richard Branson as was Seraphim’s Richard McCall. The roll call of entrepreneurial greats is a force that is strong within the company and includes Maureen Haverty, who was COO at space startup Apollo Fusion that was acquired for $145M.

27 March 2024

After a better-than-expected Q1, will the U.K. investment climate remain encouraging?

With economic indicators suggesting the U.K. isn’t in as dire a condition as predicted, inflation tamed and the possibility of an interest rate cut just who are the beneficiaries?

In this Master Investor webinar, Jonathan Davis talks to Sarah Lowther about how a reduction in the Bank of England’s base rate could provide a fillip to the stock markets as it offers relief to companies with stretched balance sheets and stimulates the property market.

They discuss the perils of elevating fund managers into rock stars and unpick both the open-ended funds and investment trusts that are doing well and the renewables vehicles on course for a rebound. Davis calls out JP Morgan’s Global Growth & Income Trust, Greencoat UK Wind and Bluefield Solar Income Fund as investments that have provided solid returns.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you buy them and own them, you’re going to get something like nine or ten percent compounded return over a period of years,” says Davis who reminds investors that at the same time “You’re doing something for the country. You’re doing something for climate change.”

Davis suggests the second quarter of 2024 may not see an extension of the optimism that has buoyed UK markets so far this year. He does though encourage adopting a long-term strategy to combat any short-term frothiness in stock exchanges.

9 March 2024

Master Investor Show 2024

Held on 9 March 2024 at the Business Design Centre in London, Master Investor’s flagship event offered an unparalleled opportunity for private investors to help shape their investment plans and find portfolio inspirations. With presentations from renowned investment experts on future trends and market analysis, as well as an exhibition comprising companies from across a range of asset classes and services, Master Investor Show once again proved it’s the UK’s leading event for private investors.

18 January 2024

Master Investor Sector Focus: The EV Economy

In an economic environment where good news is in short supply, Electric Vehicles and the associated supply chains represent a ray of light with significant growth prospects.

The IEA describes Electric Vehicles as ‘one of the driving forces in the new Global Energy Economy’, with sales in 2023 expected to grow by 35%. This has significant implications for automotive manufacturing, battery production and the raw materials most closely associated with it.

This webinar brings investors together with the management teams of the most promising EV-related companies and industry experts.

4 January 2024

EnSilica anticipates five years of aggressive growth

EnSilica Plc’s (LON: ENSI) aim is to be recognised as Europe’s leading ASIC supplier.

ASIC is the acronym for Application Specific Integrated Circuits which helps the analog world marry with the digital.

ASICs currently represent approximately seven percent of a silicon chip market forecast to grow to a trillion dollars by 2030. Within that space EnSilica customises ASICs for customers, and the bespoke benefits include better data security and supply chain resilience, which in a supply chain challenged world is a huge bonus.