One of the interesting things about investing is the almost infinite number of ways that you can tackle it.  From indexing to stock picking, bottom-up and top-down, technical and fundamental analysis, skuttlebutt and quantitative formulas, you've got enough options to keep you happy for a thousand years.  That's why I'm going to try out a new approach to value investing for a while.  The eagle eyed among you may spot its origins. Note – Although I did say I would cover my recent flurry of purchases I just haven't had the time, especially given that I'm trying out this new way of looking at stocks.  Apologies for those who really wanted to know why I invested in Yellow Pages.

Mears Group

Mears (LON:MER) is my first purchase of a company which is currently doing pretty well in addition to having a very solid history.  In the past I've focussed on companies that are 'cheap' first, with only a fleeting glance as to their quality.  Going forwards it's likely to be the other way around. Mears currently operates in two main markets; support services to local authorities and domiciliary care.  They began life as a small, private building contractor in 1988 and by 1992 they had moved partly into maintenance and repair work for local authorities.  In 1996 they floated on the AIM market with a turnover of £12 million and 83 employees.  Through organic growth and acquisitions they grew to a £200 million turnover in 2005, winning the 'Decade of Excellence' and 'Best Performing Share Over 5 Years' AIM awards.  By 2010 they had listed on the main market, won the PLC Award for 'New Company of the Year', joined the FTSE4Good index and grown to a £500 million turnover and 12,000 employees. By any stretch of the imagination that's a pretty impressive track record.

Just as impressive is the level of consistency in these results.  Revenue, profit, dividends, they've all grown in every year for a decade.  The only blip, if you can call it that, has been the current year in which profit before tax and basic earnings per share were down slightly from last year.  Consistency is important as it may correlate with predictability of future earnings, which is useful since I'll be doing some forecasts in a minute. 

All this growth and consistency translates into a compound growth in…

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