Good morning!

I continued working throughout yesterday afternoon. Prompted by a reader, I had a look at software group Kainos (LON:KNOS). What a fascinating company! If you missed that section, click here to revisit yesterday's complete SCVR.

The organic growth at Kainos from 2013-2016 has been remarkable. Thank you to the reader who pointed out there were many, generally favourable reviews, from its employees on Glassdoor. This website should I think become an automatic checklist item for me to research, from now on. It gives a glimpse into a company's culture, and flags potential strengths and weaknesses.

The internet is full of interesting nuggets of information about companies. So it's vital to dig around for them, rather than just relying on the airbrushed versions of events coming from companies themselves. Peter Lynch emphasised the importance of picking up such "scuttlebutt" in his books. It's never been easier now that we have so much information out there, and Google to rummage through it for us.

Anyway, I potentially like Kainos, but need more comfort on whether its stellar growth, and profitability, are sustainable in the long term. So it's gone on my watchlist, to be researched in more detail one rainy weekend - i.e. probably this coming weekend!

Total voting rights

There seems to have been a proliferation of these announcements from companies, often at month end. It's been bugging me as to why they are issued. So I googled it! This article came up.

If I understand the rules correctly, then companies need to issue an update at the end of each month, if there has been a change in the number of shares in issue. On top of that obligation, companies also have to make an immediate announcement if any material change occurs at any other time.

This is helpful to investors, in that we can quickly check whether a market cap figure is correct and up-to-date. All we have to do is look to the most recent "Total Voting Rights" RNS, for the total number of shares in issue, and multiply it by the current share price. It's worth checking, as occasionally data sources can overlook recent Placings, for small companies.

Primary Bid

I'm watching the development of PrimaryBid with great interest. This is a new venture, to allow private investors to offer funding for companies which are considering doing a Placing. Wouldn't…

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Already have an account?
Login here