Frank Jasper – Chief Investment Officer

06 May, 2019

I hate to admit it but I am more than a couple of seasons behind in Game of Thrones. Last time I watched I am pretty sure that the story went something like this; amass lots of resources, attack your enemies with your superior strength and assume the throne of Westeros. Business is meant to be the same. Build scale, beat your competitors, grow profits and you will have very happy shareholders.

That doesn’t seem to be way things work anymore. In fact, quaint ideas like growing profits seem to be about as outdated as riding Jaime Lannister’s horse to work on the northern motorway.

Jay Ritter, an academic from the University of Florida, in a paper released late last year, highlights just how far we from come from the notion of companies growing profits is normal!

He cites data on initial public offerings (IPO) – that’s when a company first lists its shares on the market – in the United States.

Read Frank’s full post >