Barks & Sparks

During LoB (Life of Blog) I have espoused Emerging Markets, Vietnam and Japan as good places to invest.

I put some money on those convictions and am making a little in all three but I could have done much better had I deployed my savings elsewhere. So how do you pick winners? Actually it’s easy and it was put in front of my nose in the latest FTWeekend.

It profiled seventy-eight of the hundred companies that had record growth in 2020. It is possible that these companies prospered because of Covid not in spite of it; indeed ten are in healthcare and pharmaceuticals but many more are in technology and that sort of thing. So where can you find them?

Here’s where: USA 26, China 26, Rest of the World 26. Funny that it splits so symmetrically. I am very pleased to see Neste as Finland’s only contributor. Neste Oy was the state-owned oil company in Finland in the 1980s and a favourite client of mine. It is still 36% owned by the government and has re-invented itself as the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel.

Here are the other winners in Rest of the World in random order: Russia 1, UK 1, France 2, Sweden 2, Germany 3, Brazil 1, Australia 1, Denmark 2,  South Korea 4, Netherlands 1,  Argentina 1, Canada 1, Japan 2, Spain 2, Singapore 1. The sole UK entry should interest you.

”UK online grocer Ocado has been turning customers away because it will not have enough warehouse capacity to serve them until well into 2021. Its investors are unperturbed: bigger order sizes have boosted the efficiency and profitability of its existing operation, run as a joint venture with Marks and Spencer.”

That’s just about the strongest buy signal for shares in Marks and Spencer. The Ocado effect has not filtered through yet but it will. The main message is to invest in the US and China. You know how to do that ‘cos I’ve told you how.

As it happens Ocado is based in Hatfield where R and I are heading in a couple of hours. Bertie has made good progress and can come home. We cannot wait to see him again.