Acknowledgements

This second edition reflects the incredible benefit of having spent six years presenting courses to a wide collection of people. Their interest, questions and desire to learn stimulated my own development and helped me reflect on how the information can be made even more accessible. The ‘Valuation Villa’ and structure of this book is the result. It has made this complex subject much easier for audiences to access, and is a great framework for organising and understanding the information that underpins valuation.

The opportunity to present these courses was helped considerably by Miranda Lane at Finance Talking. Her faith in my skills and capabilities as a trainer is much appreciated and I learned much from her ability to simplify things and make material accessible.

My own passion to become an ever better trainer and coach has given me the opportunity to learn some wonderful techniques from some wonderful people. This has led to my being a far more effective trainer and coach and, consciously and unconsciously, informed my approach to the writing of the book. As well as being a much better book, it was also a lot more fun to write. Getting it done easily and in a focused way owes much to the great input from my ‘thinking partners’, Anne Murch and Gaby Porter.

As I reflect on the financial crisis, the excellent grounding I received working with high-quality professional people is something I am even more grateful for. Over the years, many people have provided valuable input and advice in the development of my analytical skills.

Particular mention must go to the building team at Warburg’s, past and present. This provided a very high-quality environment to learn about analysis. In particular, thanks are due to Phil Raper for having faith in recruiting me, and to Mark Stockdale from whom I learned a great deal. Andrew Rodgers has been extremely important in terms of his confidence in my ideas for both the training business and the book. Importantly, he also provided lots of excellent ideas (albeit not all of them used) and kept me up to date with market developments. I am also grateful to Keith Robinson and Alex Cobbold for lending a fund management perspective and very useful input on sectors and valuations.

Excellent technical input was provided by Mike Monkton. His faith in the idea, patience in going through early drafts and always useful suggestions are very much appreciated.

Special thanks are due to Martyn Ralph for his constant support and his constructive comments on major parts of the book. His thoughts on companies, sectors and valuation methodology have helped considerably in improving the finished product. His review of the glossary was also very welcome.

Clearly all of this input was vital in ensuring the quality and technical credibility of the book. Any errors or misinterpretations are very much my responsibility.

I am also grateful to Richard Stagg at Pearson for having faith in the original idea, and for his enthusiasm for a second edition.

The first edition was a great foundation to build on and Cheryl Stroud’s considerable patience and wonderful practical support were vital to that edition. These foundations were strengthened considerably by the insight and wisdom of Patricia Bishop. Our work together helped me appreciate the importance of relationships and gave me real insight into what drives value in the long term.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Katie Oakley for her wonderful way of being, her faith in me and her support. I appreciate these qualities enormously and much else besides.

Publisher’s acknowledgements

We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

Figures

Figures 2.1–2.7 courtesy of Thomson Reuters DataStream; Figure 2.8 reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. From ‘How competitive forces shape strategy’ by Porter, M., March/April. Copyright © 1979 by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, all rights reserved.

Text

A selection of quotes in Chapters 3 and 6 from Good to Great. Copyright © 2001 by Jim Collins. Reprinted with permission from Jim Collins.

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