Vista Group is a great example of what we look for in an investment. It has been a strong performer recently, hitting all-time highs.

Vista is a little known New Zealand company that develops software for cinema exhibitors – last time you went to the movies its software would have been running almost everything in the cinema right from providing your tickets to managing yourpopcorn order. Vista has had the local market sewn up for many years but it turns out Vista’s solution isn’t just the best product for the local market, but also globally.

The company’s progress overseas stems from its entrepreneurial spirit and desire to build a genuine market-leading, highly scalable product. A great example of this was that many years ago Vista entered Argentina as only its third country of operation, and had to contend with complex local taxes and a new language. This was a brave and ultimately successful move.

Vista hasn’t looked back since and is now present in almost 100 countries, including the fast-growing Chinese market. Vista has the largest cinema software development team in the world and has proactively reinvested in its product, which has increased its lead over competitors.   The cumulative research and development spend and millions of lines of software code are a few of the elements that form an excellent competitive ‘moat’ around the business.