Yesterday I attended this event at the Business Design Centre, London and thought readers might be interested in knowing some of the presentation points.

For those who have never attended, it's a "Shares" magazine event, sponsored by Cenkos and AJ Bell which brings together retail investors with small caps. More detail here https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/events/event/growth-innovation-forum-2018.

  • Small Caps consistently outperform the main indices
  • It is believed they will become more attractive over the coming months to fund managers as they (defensively) try to diversify away from main indices to mitigate risk of a bear market
  • The staggering growth of the Electric vehicle market (and consequent investing opportunities) was the theme of one presenter from Shares. Despite possible  disruption to incumbents he highlighted that many were adapting well to the new market opportunity. He thought the following were worth looking at: Ab Dynamics (LON:ABDP), Johnson Matthey (LON:JMAT), Ricardo (LON:RCDO) (suppliers and services), Draper Esprit (LON:GROW), Nexus Infrastructure (LON:NEXS) (Charging points) and Glencore (LON:GLEN),  Bacanora Minerals (LON:BCN), BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Kaz Minerals (LON:KAZ) (Commodity suppliers for batteries) were highlighted. 
  • AJ Bell presented a top 10 signs of gauging whether the market will crash. 1. Sentiment/confidence as measured by the volatility index (VIX); 2. a "blow-off top" when the market peaks; 3. Earnings Momentum slows; 4. Market concentration (when exposures are  concentrated in relatively few stocks); 5. a move to defensive stocks; 6. M&A activity very high; 7. New listings high including more 'rubbish' stocks; 8. Real interest rates go above 2%; 9. Credit spreads; 10. Yield curve. I didn't understand the symptoms of the last two but I'm sure others here can tell me. In summary he thought the score was 7:3 in favour of the bull market but warned things could change rapidly. 
  • Shares Mag also presented an overview of UK tech stocks worth looking at. £AFM accesso Technology (LON:ACSO),  GB (LON:GBG),