US investor going to Oslo and Stockholm to meet with management teams

[mateo999]

Are there any companies (long or short) I should add to my list, even if just for educational purposes?  Current lists:

Norway: Borregard, B2 Holding, WWI/WWASA/TRE, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Marine Harvest, NextGenTel (maybe?), Protector (maybe?), NRC Group (maybe?), Europris (maybe?)

Sweden: Nordnet, Electrolux

 

Thanks for any and all thoughts!

[Jurgis]

http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/investment-ideas/effn-effnetplattformen/

 

Let us know if you visit them and any info.

[alwaysinvert]

What is your size cut-off? Many interesting companies are based in other cities but I guess you don't have the time to travel all over the place.

 

Here are some more interesting ones in Sweden anyway: Vitec, Kopparbergs, Kabe, Clas Ohlson, Skistar, Bahnhof, Swedish Match, Avanza, eWork, Cloetta.

 

Those are some that interest me from a business perspective. I don't own any of them at the moment, so it's not necessarily a comment on valuation.

[mateo999]

Thank you both for the replies... I realize I should have put size restrictions.  Nothing much smaller than USD 250mm cap wise.  I'm going to be in Oslo, Bergen, and Stockholm.

[mateo999]

What is your size cut-off? Many interesting companies are based in other cities but I guess you don't have the time to travel all over the place.

 

Here are some more interesting ones in Sweden anyway: Vitec, Kopparbergs, Kabe, Clas Ohlson, Skistar, Bahnhof, Swedish Match, Avanza, eWork, Cloetta.

 

Those are some that interest me from a business perspective. I don't own any of them at the moment, so it's not necessarily a comment on valuation.

 

PS: extremely frustrating to see every name on your list trading at or near multi year highs.  Up and to the right since 2014 correlates pretty well with SEK devaluation.

[John Hjorth]

mateo999,

 

Thank you for bringing this topic up.

 

Based on what is already suggested, I will add :

 

Norway:

 

Norwegian Finans Holding ASA [NOFI.OS] [This sucker & money machine has produced about 69% gain for investors this year - allwaysinvert has posted about it in the Protector topic]. The company is located just outside Oslo.

 

Sweden :

 

Investor AB [ INVE A.STOCK & INVE B.STOCK] HQ is in downtown Stockholm.

L E Lundbergföretagen AB [LUND B.STOCK] HQ is in downtown Stockholm.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Good luck - and enjoy the trip!

 

 

[mateo999]

mateo999,

 

Thank you for bringing this topic up.

 

Based on what is already suggested, I will add :

 

Norway:

 

Norwegian Finans Holding ASA [NOFI.OS] [This sucker & money machine has produced about 69% gain for investors this year - allwaysinvert has posted about it in the Protector topic]. The company is located just outside Oslo.

 

Sweden :

 

Investor AB [ INVE A.STOCK & INVE B.STOCK] HQ is in downtown Stockholm.

L E Lundbergföretagen AB [LUND B.STOCK] HQ is in downtown Stockholm.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Good luck - and enjoy the trip!

 

Thank you John.

 

I met NOFI (BANK NS back then) first when a big block was offered to us at NOK 18 and again when shares were in the 20s.  We passed both times.  Two of our worst calls ever.

 

Investor- will do.  We have a lot of respect for the Wallenbergs. 

 

I'll take a deeper look at LUNDB.  I've met with JM in the past.  Do you mind sharing a 1/2 sentence blurb as to why LUNDB piques your interest?

 

Thanks,

Mateo

[randomep]

 

 

Will you be speaking in English?

[mateo999]

 

 

Will you be speaking in English?

 

Yes, but I can have a broker translate if need be.

[randomep]

 

 

Will you be speaking in English?

 

Yes, but I can have a broker translate if need be.

 

Ok so you are saying that your native tongue is English and you aren't sure if they speak English but your bringing your broker? wow you must have a ton of stock/money

 

[mateo999]

 

 

Will you be speaking in English?

 

Yes, but I can have a broker translate if need be.

 

Ok so you are saying that your native tongue is English and you aren't sure if they speak English but your bringing your broker? wow you must have a ton of stock/money

 

That's not what I'm saying-- the meetings I've got set up are definitely in English.  I thought you were asking because you were about to suggest a company whose management only speaks Norwegian or Swedish.  Otherwise, I'm not quite sure why you asked the question.

[randomep]

 

 

Will you be speaking in English?

 

Yes, but I can have a broker translate if need be.

 

 

 

Ok so you are saying that your native tongue is English and you aren't sure if they speak English but your bringing your broker? wow you must have a ton of stock/money

 

That's not what I'm saying-- the meetings I've got set up are definitely in English.  I thought you were asking because you were about to suggest a company whose management only speaks Norwegian or Swedish.  Otherwise, I'm not quite sure why you asked the question.

 

 

Ok got it.

 

I asked the question because maybe one day I will go to sweden to do the same, and I only speak english.

 

 

[John Hjorth]

Mateo,

 

Basicly, I will describe LUND B as a combination of a real estate company and a "Mini Investor AB". I like what I see, but I have a hard time to find a meaningful method to calculate a value of the real estate part of the company. I have been looking at other listed real estate companies based in Sweden for some kind of comparison, but I simply don't understand those market valuations.

 

I bought it in the February downturn this year, it's only a 2% position for my family and I for now, for the above reason. I need to do more work on it before - basicly the whimp here [me] just has the hand a bit on the cookplate with this.

 

Here is a link to an article about the company and the family behind LUND. It's in swedish language, but it will be possible for you to read it using the translate feature in Chrome, though some shades of the colour will be hard to catch for you because the translation feature is far from perfect:

 

Fredrik Lundberg building his empire bit by bit[/me]

[alwaysinvert]

 

 

Will you be speaking in English?

 

Yes, but I can have a broker translate if need be.

 

 

 

Ok so you are saying that your native tongue is English and you aren't sure if they speak English but your bringing your broker? wow you must have a ton of stock/money

 

That's not what I'm saying-- the meetings I've got set up are definitely in English.  I thought you were asking because you were about to suggest a company whose management only speaks Norwegian or Swedish.  Otherwise, I'm not quite sure why you asked the question.

 

 

Ok got it.

 

I asked the question because maybe one day I will go to sweden to do the same, and I only speak english.

 

I'd be very surprised if there was a problem. They all speak at least passable English and most of them are very used to communicating in English to investors and analysts. 

[John Hjorth]

I agree with alwaysinvert here.

 

My own experience is that English language is the common denominator in Scandinavian international business [both internal and external, written and oral, except peer to peer communication between two persons with same mother tounge].

 

[Last year in the spring I was stressed due to the workload, overworked and very worried about the potential consequenses of the situation in the near future - just dire straits.

 

One morning in that period  she said to me: "John, you have started talking while at sleep again..." Me: "What did I say?" She: "It was just fragments, I did not get it all, but it was work related, I could hear... - the really weird part for me was that it was in English!". [Not weird at all for me, because I had noticed that I had started thinking in English, the outcome of my thoughts getting expressed in English, searching for the Danish expressions and terms while speaking, applying shortcuts using English expressions and terms in a whole mess because of those beeing more immediate available in my brain, thereby derailing my Danish language.]

 

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-students-learning-english-in-europe.html