Here’s another brief stock pitch for you! BPM joined my watchlist this year, and I have recently invested in it for the second time. Here is an overview.
Disclosure: At the time of publication, I have a long position in BPM.
The Pitch
B.P. Marsh & Partners (LON:BPM) is a specialist investor in the insurance sector, typically investing in early-stage managing general agents (MGAs) and related insurance sector operators: brokers, underwriting agents, and other intermediaries.
It’s not an “exciting” or “hot” investment sector, but it has generated very considerable returns for BPM and its shareholders since inception in 1994. Focusing on the last ten years only, the annualised total return for shareholders is in the region of 17%.
With the share price having paused for breath since reaching £7 for the first time in December 2024, I think it again offers very interesting risk:reward possibilities at the current level.
The most recent half-year results, to July 2025, showed the company having a net asset value of £349.5m, or NAV per share of 956.1p. That compares with a market cap today of £237m, and a share price of 658.5p.
If I adjust the NAV per share for the 29p of dividends that the shares have earned since then, and assume no underlying growth in the past six months, I get a current share price discount to NAV of 29%.
The Big Picture
As of July 2025 the company’s portfolio, including cash, looked like this:
Pantheon: not to be confused with the private equity firm Pantheon Ventures and its various investment vehicles, this is Pantheon Specialty Group Limited (website). This important holding, where BPM has a 39% stake, is valued at £105.5m. Pantheon has been highly profitable in recent years and contributed nearly half of BPM’s operating income in FY January 2025.
Cash: I should also highlight the large cash balance. After previous successful investments were realised in recent, BPM has been engaging in a mix of dividends, buybacks and new investment activity, with new investments remaining front and centre. The recent trading update for FY January 2026 disclosed that BPM had funds of £49.5m even after making £37.8m of new equity investments and increasing the value of…
