Assignment 1 Step #3

Well what can I say except overwhelmed. Upon opening and viewing the company website that I had been assigned to I realised that this may be a little more difficult than I anticipated. Firstly I have never heard of ‘Melrose’ and its based out of the United Kingdom in London. So not only am I looking into a company I have never heard of but I also have to take into consideration that everything is in Pounds. Am I going to be able to do this? This question can only be answered by knuckling down and getting into and reviewing the Annual report. But more importantly I first must look into the company and what it is they actually do.

Upon a closer inspection of Melrose, what the company does is actually simplified quite well by the statement in their annual report. Essentially Melrose is a London-Based company that values their fundamental principles based on these three words: Buy, Improve and Sell. Melrose focuses on the acquisition of other companies that are fundamentally good but require improvements. Once acquired Melrose will make operational improvements and return value to the company and its shareholders. Melrose was founded in 2003 and secured their first acquisition of two companies by the names of McKechnie and Dynacast. I also found out while looking into the history of Melrose that their shares are currently listed on the London Stock Exchange under the constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. I am quite intrigued by this company and how they achieve success.

From what I understood while reading the 2018 annual report is that Melrose made quite substantial transformation that year. Melrose acquired a company called GKN and due the high profile nature of the takeover bid GKN’s assets represented 85% of all Melrose group sales. Due to investment that Melrose made within a short time there were significant improvements within GKN. These changes resulted in significant profit increases and improved organisational operation. While I was reading the annual report I was shocked by the amount of information that was proved. The annual report document was over 200 pages long and had volumes of in-depth financial records and statements.

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/melrose-raises-gkn-bid-11-162617919.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

During the year of 2018 Melrose secured GKN like previously mentioned but also continues to improve their other assets. Nortek is a company that that Melrose is continuing to improve with 48% increased operating profit and a 6ppts increase in the operating margins. According to the annual report this operating margin increase is a solid 60%. Seeing improvements to companies like Nortek it is only logical that the share holders of GKN have decided that Melrose is a company worth investing in. During the 2018 annual report Melrose also shows their sold most recently acquired company Elster that has just finished their improvement cycle. Elster was owned by Melrose from August of 2012 to December of 2015 and during the 3 year ownership of this company Melrose increased operating margin improvements by 70%. Elster was purchase for £1.8 billion and sold for £3.3 billion. It is simply incredible to me the changes and effect that Melrose is having on these companies.

While reading all this information I think I was put of by the amount of information that was presented. I would get lost for hours in the document sometimes needing to double back and re-read content multiple times. So what is Melrose doing in order to improve these already established and somewhat successful companies? How are they creating value? Knowing the amount of companies that Melrose is invested in makes me curious as to how they are able to continue to be so prosperous. It seems that over the years Melrose has always stuck to the model of having no more than a few companies at a time.

I thought the the first 10 pages of the annual report were confusing, then I started to read further into the document and began to realise how much I did not understand. Not only that but I don’t know if it was confusing or boredom but either was I was loosing focus and found myself scrolling through pages trying to find information pertinent to the assignment. From what I was able to understand some challenges that Melrose faces is the pressure to remain successful. Here is a company that buy other companies and improves them then sells. However imagine if something went wrong and Melrose started to have difficulties. How would they overcome this? Have thy ever experienced this before? I would imagine that being somewhat of an elitist company would put pressure of the board of directors to always get it right. If not they loose not only their investment but their shareholders as well.

I have found that I am genuinely impressed by the ability that Melrose has to create value. I cannot wait to delve further into the gritty details and find what makes this company so successful. Melrose is the perfect example of what company needs to do and be in order to stand out from the rest and be flourishing. As a future accountant and current student I look forward to learning as much as I can and whilst doing so challenging my own knowledge and understanding.

Top 3 Blogs

1. April Innes – https://monetarymoments.home.blog/

What a great blog this is. Although simple it is easily navigated and cleanly presented. The thing that grabbed me from the start was that April mentions she is a lover of bacon and that for me was relatable. Taking into consideration that for April, blogging is a first, she is doing really well! But I must admit that if I imagine the image on Aprils home page background like she recommends I don’t think I would get much done as I would just want to be there.

However all that aside what a great blog I found myself bookmarking this blog and going on a journey with April. We seem to be experiencing similar feelings and worries about what ahead but its always easier to do it with others.

• Taylah Forsyth – https://taylahforsyth.home.blog

A relatable blog once again. I found myself in a similar position as Taylah coming into this course/degree. Just moved, Recent had or having children and I am also relatively close to the end of my degree. It is interesting seeing what other people do to their blogs to make them more appealing or stand out? This blog stood out to me due to the colours used and the different design compared to most other blogs.

Taylah definitely shares some comments that make me realise how far behind I am when it comes to securing experience within the field that we are studying. I like this blog as it just makes me think and contemplate what it is I need to do in order to succeed.

• Gemma Purse – https://gemmapurse.home.blog/

This is the last of three very different blogs that I have defined as my ‘Top 3’. Gemma’s blog of very well written and set out and she has put a lot of work into embedding video’s into the posts and filling her posts with information. Gemma has also put in great references in more current posts which is good to see. I am also loving all the images that generally precede the blog posts. They definitely assist in the appeal of the site and draw my eye.

Gemma also appears to be very active on her blog I can see this by how many other blogs she follows and also how many follow her in return. It is something that I need to be better with but it is great to see that other students are utilising all the assets available to them.