Argonautica

Wirecard the Germany payments outfit and DAX 30 constituent last week announced that its thrice delayed 2019 Annual Report could still not be published as its auditor could not verify previously reported cash balances of €1.9bn. Before subsequently resigning its long-standing CEO, Marcus Braun, claimed that the company was itself a victim of fraud and that the cash had been deposited in the Philippines. This has been rejected by Filipino authorities and Wirecard has since acknowledged that the cash…

Wirecard the Germany payments outfit and DAX 30 constituent was supposed to have released its twice previously delayed 2019 results today. Instead the company issued a statement saying that the Annual Report would need to be further delayed as their auditor E&Y could not verify whether previously reported cash balances of €1.9bn could be verified. What has amazed us is how the Wirecard share price has been so impervious to substantiated accusations of wrong-doing for so long. Even today Wirecard’s…

Diversifying style bias, discounting the discourse of doom and the worst policy error since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to the outbreak of WW1 Every Fund Manager has an inherent style bias in stock selection which - when rewarded by the stock market for a prolonged period - is often confused with investment genius. Experience of previous stock-market cycles should bring an understanding that any style bias cannot generate permanent outperformance indefinitely; that not all…

Economies are now emerging from lockdown restrictions. The pace of normalisation is both patchy and ponderous; clouded by legacy propaganda and heightened political risk. Nevertheless, the direction of travel for now is only one-way: having witnessed unprecedented falls in business activity, near-term recovery is now inevitable. Importantly, this is a different debate than any longer-term implications, which in any case is subject to greater forecasting uncertainty. The initial stages of the stock…