Richard Staveley, fund manager at Gresham House Strategic plc (LON:GHS), gives his thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic and current market downturn. He highlights the differences between the economy and equity markets and discusses the impact the pandemic is having on various companies and sectors. He explains his investment approach at GHS and provides more detail on some of his underlying holdings: Augean, Van Elle Holdings and Northbridge Industrial Services.
Gresham House Strategic invests mainly in smaller UK public companies, applying private equity-style techniques to construct a focused portfolio. The investment team focuses on taking significant stakes in profitable, cash-generative companies that it believes are intrinsically undervalued, aiming for significant engagement with investee company stakeholders in support of a clear equity value creation plan over the long term. The strategic public equity team at the fund manager, Gresham House, has managed five consecutive funds since 2003, including GHS, following the same strategy.
Augean plc (LON:AUG) is a specialist waste and resource management group serving the hazardous waste management sector, the oil and gas industry and nuclear and radioactives sector operating at locations across the UK from Avonmouth to Shetland.
Van Elle Holdings plc (LON:VANL) is a geotechnical engineering contracting company. The Company offers end-to-end solutions, including site investigation, driven, bored, drilled and augered piling, and ground stabilization services. It also develops, manufactures and installs precast concrete products for use in specialist foundation applications.
Northbridge Industrial Services plc (LON:NBI) has two core activities, Crestchic Loadbanks and Tasman Oil Tools. Crestchic is a specialist electrical equipment business which manufactures, sells and rents loadbanks and transformers from its base in Burton on Trent and has depots in France, Germany, Belgium, UAE and Singapore. Crestchic also has satellite locations in China and the USA.
