Growth Capital by The QCA

Hosted by The Quoted Companies Alliance

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May 2024

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About the show

Welcome to Growth Capital, the podcast from the Quoted Companies Alliance. Our organisation champions public companies. They could be worth a handful of millions or hundreds of millions of pounds. What unites them is they want to grow, they want to innovate. They want good access to capital and the right regulation that supports their mission. In this podcast, you'll hear from senior business leaders, politicians, regulators, and company advisors, the people that make the rules and make the money. The entire community that must come together to ensure London is the growth capital.

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16 recent

May 27, 2024Episode 1548 min

Episode 15: Boardroom diversity

Good boards need dynamism and diverse thinking to thrive. But how to get the right balance of skills around the boardroom table, especially at smaller quoted companies? Taking part in this conversation are two experienced boardroom advisers. Nina Spencer is founder and CEO of Addidat, an advisory firm which helps growing companies develop successful ESG strategies. Addidat also tracks gender diversity on AIM boards. Nina’s background is in the fintech space and asset management and she is non-executive director on two boards, including the mortgage lender LendInvest. The writer and activist Simon Fanshawe runs the consultancy Diversity by Design, offering advice and training to organisations of all sizes. The former comedian was one of the six co-founders of LGBT rights charity Stonewall. He is rector of the University of Edinburgh. Growth Capital is presented by the QCA’s chief executive, James Ashton. It is sponsored by Mazars, the audit, tax and advisory firm helping listed businesses grow with purpose. Mazars is an international audit, tax and advisory firm. Operating in over 95 countries and territories around the world, we combine local knowledge with global perspective to help our clients build and grow their businesses with confidence. In the UK, we are amongst the largest firms in the sector and are a leading auditor to Public Interest Entities (PIEs).

May 9, 2024Episode 1440 min

Episode 14: The Cyber Threat

It’s the boardroom worry that has vaulted up the risk register: what can company directors do to lessen the chances of a cyber attack on their business? And what steps should they take if they fall victim to one? This area is a whole new world for many non-executive directors. How do they judge whether their company is well-prepared and who can they turn to for help? Taking part in this conversation are two experts from QCA member organisations. Asam Malik leads Mazars’ technology and digital practice in the UK, providing IT advisory and assurance services to clients. He has over 20 years of experience built up across a range of industry sectors and formally worked at PwC. Stuart Jubb is group managing director at Crossword Cybersecurity, the AIM-listed cyber specialist. He joined Crossword in 2016 from KPMG where he was an associate director responsible for the defence and security industries and worked with the Ministry of Defence on large transformation programmes. Growth Capital is presented by the QCA’s chief executive, James Ashton. It is sponsored by Mazars, the audit, tax and advisory firm helping listed businesses grow with purpose. Mazars is an international audit, tax and advisory firm. Operating in over 95 countries and territories around the world, we combine local knowledge with global perspective to help our clients build and grow their businesses with confidence. In the UK, we are amongst the largest firms in the sector and are a leading auditor to Public Interest Entities (PIEs).

April 19, 2024Episode 1346 min

Episode 13: Public or private?

New York versus London is often the battle that dominates the capital markets conversation but the real stand-off - particularly for smaller, growing companies - is public versus private. When is the right time for founders and their key backers to go public? How can the stock market increase its appeal so that more entrepreneurs take the plunge? And what do the latest efforts to blur the divide between public and private mean for growing businesses in the future? Taking part in this conversation are two seasoned business builders. Ray Anderson has more than 30 years’ experience in starting, growing and selling businesses. He is executive chair and founder of Bango, the AIM-listed digital payments and marketing expert that connects online merchants with more paying customers. Founded in 1999, the company works with everyone from start-ups to some of the world’s largest online businesses, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Steve Rigby is co-chief executive of Rigby Group, one of the UK’s largest family-owned firms with annual turnover of £3.8 billion. The business comprises IT services, several tech investments and a property arm that spans regional airports, hotels, residential and commercial. Rigby is also on the board of Family Business UK and chair of the Private Business Commission, launched to investigate why many UK companies struggle to maximise their growth potential. Growth Capital is presented by the QCA’s chief executive, James Ashton. It is sponsored by Mazars, the audit, tax and advisory firm helping listed businesses grow with purpose. Mazars is an international audit, tax and advisory firm. Operating in over 95 countries and territories around the world, we combine local knowledge with global perspective to help our clients build and grow their businesses with confidence. In the UK, we are amongst the largest firms in the sector and are a leading auditor to Public Interest Entities (PIEs).

January 4, 2024Episode 1247 min

Episode 12: What does 2024 hold for investors?

Given what 2023 left behind – lingering inflation, political strife, an IPO drought and the rise of artificial intelligence - what does 2024 hold for investors? This episode sets the scene. The look-ahead conversation features two fund managers with decades of experience and a long-standing commitment to either end of the London market. Nick Train is co-founder of the investment firm Lindsell Train and portfolio manager for UK equities including the FTSE 250 investment trust Finsbury Growth & Income whose holdings include large caps such as Diageo, Sage and Burberry. Before Lindsell Train, Nick was head of global equities at M&G and also spent 17 years at GT Management. Gervais Williams is a small cap specialist, head of equities at Premier Miton and the President of the Quoted Companies Alliance. He is a frequent media commentator, a member of the AIM Advisory Panel at the London Stock Exchange and formerly spent 17 years at the fund manager Gartmore. Growth Capital is presented by the QCA’s chief executive, James Ashton, who is also a non-executive director of Finsbury Growth & Income. Growth Capital is sponsored by Mazars, the audit, tax and advisory firm helping listed businesses grow with purpose. Mazars is an international audit, tax and advisory firm. Operating in over 95 countries and territories around the world, we combine local knowledge with global perspective to help our clients build and grow their businesses with confidence. In the UK, we are amongst the largest firms in the sector and are a leading auditor to Public Interest Entities (PIEs).

December 4, 2023Episode 1142 min

Episode 11: What’s the future for annual reports?

They are the doorstopper documents that just keep growing. QCA research found that company annual reports add an average 5,800 words every year. Who’s reading them? And what’s the value of a once-a-year document when investors can access reams of real-time data? After recent governance rethinks, what else needs to change to formulate a package that offers transparency and inspires corporate confidence? This conversation features two guests from QCA member firms: Phil Austen, sales director at Perivan, the UK’s number one producer of annual reports, IPO prospectuses and investor communications. Phil’s career in financial printing began 35 years ago at St Ives and his own printing consultancy, Corporate Ink, was acquired by Perivan in 2017;Andrew Jones, director and head of narrative reporting at Mazars, who has over twenty years’ experience of technical accounting, performance measurement in capital markets and non-financial reporting.

November 17, 2023Episode 1048 min

Episode 10: The QCA Corporate Governance Code

How can good governance support growth? The QCA Corporate Governance Code is a set of flexible principles designed to help companies run better. It is 10 years old and used today by almost 900 companies, whose shares are traded on AIM, the Main Market and the Aquis Stock Exchange. As we launch the first new version of the Code since 2018, what’s changed – and what’s stayed the same? This conversation features two guests from QCA member firms who lead our QCA Corporate Governance Expert Group and have played key roles in developing the new Code this year: Will Pomroy, head of impact engagement for equities at the investment manager Federated Hermes; Laura Nuttall, director and head of governance, compliance and company secretarial at ONE Advisory, a firm that supports a range of publicly traded companies. Also featuring is the QCA’s head of policy Jack Marshall who has led the Code revision internally.

October 4, 2023Episode 949 min

Episode 9: Buy, sell, hold: is it time for a revival in equity research?

It’s the detailed analysis of quoted companies’ prospects that drives investor interest and ultimately liquidity – the lifeblood of any market. Yet equity research has withered on the vine since its cost was separated out from brokers’ trading commissions under the EU’s MIFID II rule changes in 2018. A carve out for smaller stocks had little impact. A recent government review recognised its value as a “public good” and proposed ways to improve the volume and value of what gets written. The question that remains is: who pays for it? This conversation features two guests from QCA member firms. Rachel Kent is the author of the investment research review carried out for the UK government. She’s a senior partner in the financial services regulatory team at law firm Hogan Lovells, advising banks, insurers and wealth managers on their affairs. Rachel was also heavily involved in HM Treasury’s Kalifa Review into the fintech sector. David Johnson is research director at Allenby Capital, an AIM Nominated Adviser and Broker offering a variety of integrated funding solutions for smaller, fast growing companies. Before he joined Allenby in 2016, David head of research or analyst at various firms including Northland Capital Partners, Daniel Stewart and Altium capital. Growth Capital is presented by the QCA’s chief executive, James Ashton. It is sponsored by Mazars, the audit, tax and advisory firm helping listed businesses grow with purpose. Mazars is an international audit, tax and advisory firm. Operating in over 95 countries and territories around the world, we combine local knowledge with global perspective to help our clients build and grow their businesses with confidence. In the UK, we are amongst the largest firms in the sector and are a leading auditor to Public Interest Entities (PIEs).

September 4, 2023Episode 840 min

Episode 8: Autumn’s here – how are you feeling?

As the City of London comes back to life this autumn, how’s the mood corporately, economically, politically? Inflation is sticky and interest rates are still rising. What will bring back the IPOs that are the lifeblood of many City firms? And with a general election probably no more than a year away, how will the Chancellor unlock investment and increase the attractiveness of London as a listing venue in his Autumn Statement? This conversation features two guests from QCA member firms: Simon Bridges, head of the European investment banking division at Canaccord Genuity, a technology sector specialist who has worked on numerous equity capital market deals, mergers and acquisitions in a career spanning PwC, HSBC and Bridgewell; George Lagarias, chief economist at Mazars Wealth Management, who has many years of financial market experience working as an analyst, investment strategist and fund manager, including with EFG, Close Brothers and Alpha Bank in Greece.

August 2, 2023Episode 741 min

Episode 7: Media coverage: who needs it… and how to get it

What’s the point in growth if no-one is listening to the growth story? In this multi-media age, how important are positive column inches to supporting a company’s progress? And how do smaller stocks push through when some people think the media is obsessed with negative news and clickbait about overseas industry giants such as Tesla and Meta? This conversation features two journalists well known to QCA members: Joanne Hart, investment editor at the Mail on Sunday, whose legendary Midas column regularly moves share prices on a Monday morning; Charlie Conchie, investment editor at City AM, scoop getter and interviewer of many key figures involved in London’s capital markets reform. Growth Capital is presented by the QCA’s chief executive, James Ashton. It is sponsored by Mazars, the audit, tax and advisory firm helping listed businesses grow with purpose. Mazars is an international audit, tax and advisory firm. Operating in over 95 countries and territories around the world, we combine local knowledge with global perspective to help our clients build and grow their businesses with confidence. In the UK, we are amongst the largest firms in the sector and are a leading auditor to Public Interest Entities (PIEs).

July 17, 2023Episode 641 min

Episode 6: Who wants to be a NED these days?

Talent in the boardroom matters if growth companies are going to prosper. But increased regulatory requirements and time commitments suggest some non-executive directors are thinking twice before signing up to new roles. How can mid and smallcap stocks find the right calibre of candidate to support their development? Who ensures there is a cultural fit? And what’s really in it for the individual? From QCA member companies, this conversation features: Lara Izlan, director of data strategy at ITV, and since 2021 a non-executive director of Ebiquity, a media data company that helps clients analyse their media spending and marketing campaigns; David Dumeresque, a senior headhunter from Tyzack Partners who counts among his specialisms the recruitment of non-executive directors. Growth Capital is sponsored by Mazars, the audit, tax and advisory firm helping listed businesses grow with purpose.