Hardman & Co

We are a rapidly growing, innovative corporate research & consultancy business, based in London, serving the needs of both public and private companies.

Our expert team of sector analysts and market professionals collectively have over 400 years of experience.  This depth of knowledge and a reputation for integrity have built trust with investors. With effective communication and precision distribution, we help companies disseminate their investment message to interested investors, as well as advise them on strategy.

Our smaller, boutique structure allows us to provide first-class customer service and to deliver a wide range of ad-hoc services for multiple clients with different needs.

Regulatory Information

  • Regulatory Status: Hardman Research Ltd, trading as Hardman & Co, is an appointed representative of Capital Markets Strategy Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Mark Thomas ... (+2)
  • Mark Thomas
  • Mike Foster

Real Estate Credit Investments (RECI): The rise of private credit: thr...

One of the key trends in global financing markets has been the rise of private credit. In this report, we consider the implications for RECI. On the upside, we note i) the disintermediation of banks reconfirms the drivers to its business model, ii) this should be positive for sentiment, and iii) most of RECI’s competitive advantages relative to banks also apply to private credit funds. On the downside, we note i) competition will increase, especially for higher-end loans and staff, although RECI...

Richard Jeans
  • Richard Jeans

accesso Technology Group (ACSO): We expect revenue growth to accelerat...

In this note, we review the prospects for accesso ahead of the final results in April. The January update was reassuring, with revenue of ca.$152m ahead of our $150m forecast and the ca.15% cash EBITDA margin well ahead of the 13.2% forecast. Conservatively, we maintained our FY25 and FY26 forecast. However, as accesso is a growth technology company with a leading market position, we expect revenues to gradually accelerate from 6% in FY25E into the high single digits, and margins to rise as the...

Mark Thomas
  • Mark Thomas

Volta Finance Limited (VTAS): 2024 experience bodes well for 2025

Volta has delivered +21.2% 2024 total NAV return, outperforming i) B-rated CLO tranches (+19.2%), ii) US high yield (+8.2%), iii) Euro high yield (+8.6%), and iv) global loans (+7.3%). Its performance reflects positive markets and the incremental value added by the manager through its asset selection and portfolio management. Looking into 2025, we expect another strong year from CLOs: more market growth (partially driven by loans issued to fund greater PE activity), and stable, if not falling, d...

Keith Hiscock
  • Keith Hiscock

Hardman & Co Insight: The October 2024 Budget - We got it wrong

Our Hardman & Co Insight of October 2024 looked forward to the first Labour Budget for 14 years. The main theme was that, because the new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had ruled out increases in taxes on ‘working people’, investors would bear the brunt of any tax increases to fill the alleged £22bn hole in the public finances left to the new government by the Tories. The pain that was going to be suffered was increased by the aim to raise some more to improve public services, so Reeves booked £40bn...

Brian Moretta
  • Brian Moretta

BR Review: Rockpool Inheritance Tax Service - Rockpool Investments LLP

The Rockpool Inheritance Tax Service invests in two lending strategies: senior secured loans to small corporates as part of private equity deals, and asset-based lending, which is to reserve power companies and is mostly secured on energy contracts. The underlying company has 24 loans in its current portfolio. The service has been running since 2012 and, other than a short period in 2018/2019 when it had some bad debts, has largely reached or beaten its target return of 4% p.a. Currently, its ru...

Retail Bond Review No. 10 Feature Article: Bond Structuring

For many investors the coupon, term and rating is all they look at when they buy a bond. But each bond has a structure that affects the credit risk, and investors need to know what that is.â–º The recent Wasps Finance plc issue is one of the more complicated of the recent ORB issues. We use it as an example, highlighting some of the terms used and what investors need to look for when assessing bond structuresâ–º We also look at the different forms of security that investors may see, explaining t...

UK Housebuilding Sector in Q3 2015

​On 31 October, the Final of the Rugby World Cup (RWC) will be contested at Twickenham. Will the New Zealand All Blacks prevail to become the first team to win it consecutively (and the first to win it three times)?If the listed UK Housebuilders were rugby teams, our guess is that Berkeley would be the All Blacks with Tony Pidgley as the record breaking captain, Richie McCaw. In turn, Persimmon would be the South African Springboks - both formidable and both named after wonderful creatures.For...

Material World. “Experience has made me rich”

Summary - The UK Building Materials Sector is vital but ignored; and in terms of definition and analysis, really only exists here. - It comprises 18 companies with total revenue of £2.6 billion, net assets of £1.3 billion and more than 15,500 employees. - The London Stock Exchange value is £3.62 billion as of 5th June 2015.In the latest fiscal year it has grown revenue by 9.4% and gross profit by 12.3%. - Gross margins are a tidy 29.5%. - EBITDA has done even better with 21% annual growt...

May 2015 Monthly / Feature Article: Why Should we be worries about unw...

May 2015 Monthly / Feature Article: Why Should we be worries about unwinding quantitative easing?

Hardman & Co. September 2015 Monthly. Featured article - MiFID II –...

​For most people Tuesday, 3rd January 2017 is likely to be the first day back at work after a long weekend celebrating the New Year. In London it will probably be overcast with occasional showers whilst commuters will be suffering the effects of 'over-running engineering works'. But for participants in the London stock market it could be a momentous day, on a par with the Big Bang of October 1986 when fixed commission rates and the distinction between brokers and jobbers were swept away. For o...

Keith Hiscock ... (+2)
  • Keith Hiscock
  • Yingheng Chen

Punching above their weight? The contribution of small- and mid-cap qu...

Back in May 2019, Hardman & Co and the Quoted Companies Alliance jointly published a paper looking at the importance of small and mid-size quoted companies (SMQCs) to the markets, and their contribution to tax revenues and employment in the UK. This is a poorly researched area, and that paper helped frame the debate; it has been quoted from by bodies such as the City of London Corporation. Three years have passed since that note, and we felt it was time to update the work. Of course, the econom...

Keith Hiscock
  • Keith Hiscock

Hardman & Co Insight: Share ownership: For the many, not the few - The...

We recently published a paper, 'Share ownership: For the many, not the few', based on a statistical survey of share ownership, produced jointly with Argus Vickers, the share analysis service. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has now issued its equivalent survey. This paper compares its results with ours. Although there are, inevitably, differences in the detail, the two surveys reach the same conclusions. The two key themes from the surveys are that: i) investors from the Rest of the Wo...

February 2016 Monthly

​The timing of being invited to write this article is perfect, coinciding as it does with a) the huge uncertainty which 2016 thus far has presented to investors (resulting in the frequently heard question ‘what do I do with my money?’) and b) last week’s sale of Swiftkey [https://swiftkey.com/en] for $250m to Microsoft. The company was founded in 2008 by two people in their 20s to develop predictive keyboards driven by artificial intelligence - its technology is embedded in over 300m dev...

Feature Article: Oil Prices and Credit

The falling oil price has had many consequences, both politically and economically. In this article we look at the financial effects and, in particular at the shale oil industry. We give a brief history of its development and show how its combination of a high cost of production and higher debt funding, together with some technical failings, have led to the difficulties it now finds itself in. We also briefly consider the two ORB born oil and gas bonds, from Premier Oil...

Richard Jeans
  • Richard Jeans

Hardman & Co Insight: Tech sector outlook

21 notable buyouts since COVID-19 pandemic. With the January trading updates out of the way, we examine the outlook for the UK tech sector. As we entered January, the mood among investors was downbeat, given the tepid economic outlook, the changes announced in the UK Autumn budget, combined with the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties. However, the January trading announcements, across the sector, were better than expected, with two earnings outlook upgrades to every downgrade, on our estimates....

Paul Mylchreest
  • Paul Mylchreest

Hardman & Co Insight: Is silver the cheapest asset on the planet?

We’ve chosen a provocative title for this Insight piece, but it’s one we think is justified given the shortage of silver that we see emerging. This should translate into growing investor interest as silver’s attractive fundamentals become widely appreciated. In our opinion, they are currently not that well understood by most investors, both professional and retail. Why has silver’s long and illustrious history faded from people’s minds during the past century and why are more people not drawing...

Paul Mylchreest
  • Paul Mylchreest

Hardman & Co Insight: Gold and a Chinese credit event

A western phenomenon? If you own, or are considering owning, gold or gold equities, it’s likely that you’re concerned about protecting your wealth, or the performance of your fund, in the expectation of some kind of financial instability. Maybe your confidence in policymakers is ebbing, or you’ve researched debt bubbles in history and concluded that physical gold and silver have been the safest places to be invested when they unwind. Maybe, you can’t put your finger on it. You don’t know where ...

Martin Hall
  • Martin Hall

Hardman & Co Healthcare Index: 2020 – greater appreciation of science

The Hardman & Co Healthcare Index (HHI) has been running since 2009. Its main function is to highlight the attractions of life sciences investments over the long term. 2020 was an exceptional year, with the index rising 19.9% to 590.6, broadly in line with the FTSE AIM All-Share Index (+20.7%), but in complete contrast to the performances of the FTSE 100 (-14.3%) and FTSE All-Share (-12.5%) indices. A number of our life sciences companies really stepped up to meet the challenges posed by the COV...

UK Housebuilding Sector: Q1 2016 “Eat My Shorts, Man!”

​The Simpsons, as if you didn’t know, is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a satirical depiction of a working class lifestyle epitomised by the family members Homer, Marge, Bart (our hero), Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television and many aspects of the human condition. Since its debut on 17 December 1989, the series has broadcast 591 episodes over 27 ...

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