Last week I managed to attend the first private investor event (I think) put on by investor relations specialist Yellowstone Advisory. I hadn't heard of this consultancy before but the company line-up looked great and they were planning to hold the event within walking distance of my office - two very important considerations. As it happens it was lucky that I signed up early since the venue was packed out and I'm sure that they had to turn a few people away.
In fact I've just looked at their blog and the event was over-subscribed! So it's fortunate for anyone who couldn't attend that Five Minute Pitch TV were there filming and that Yellowstone have added all of the slide decks to their website. If that's insufficient detail I've also written up my notes from the event and hopefully these add some colour to the raw presentations. If there are any errors or omissions then the responsibility is mine as all of the presenters were excellent and able to answer the many questions thrown their way!
Volex (LON:VLX)
As a supplier of power cords and cable assemblies Volex has been through the wars (literally as it was founded over 125 years ago) with revolving-door management and disappointing profits. Around 5 years ago things changed with financier Nat Rothschild taking control of the company and bringing along Daren Morris, FD, for the ride - as this article explains. Since then they have restructured the business away from commodity products into sustainable, profitable niches such as complex harness and electronic sub-assembly manufacture. This has taken them away from fighting low-cost competition, and supplying a small number of dominant customers, into a more diversified space where they partner with quality customers (Apple, Dyson, Nespresso) at a reasonable margin. The regeneration of Volex isn't over yet, as some legacy contracts remain, but the company is no longer on life-support and dependent on the goodwill of its bankers.
As of today Volex has two divisions: Power (sales of $180m) and Complex Assemblies ($220m sales, 2/3 medical and 1/3 data centres). In the first area Daren came across as particularly excited about the potential of electric vehicles with Tesla as a major customer. The key attractions here are that the EV market is in secular growth mode, with China in particular driving this, and…
