ShareSoc Growth Company Seminar (Hybrid Event), 11 February 2025, 5pm

Join us on 11th of February for our first 2025 hybrid event in London. This event will consist of an in-person seminar in London, which will also be streamed live (and recorded), allowing members to watch virtually.

Please register to attend the event in-person or to watch virtually, using the 2 different links below.

Each company will present for 25 minutes and then take your questions for another 15 minutes. All attendees (whether attending in-person or virtually) will be able to ask questions and those attending the seminar will be able to network with company directors and fellow investors over drinks and a buffet.

Click here to register for the in-person seminar in London.
Click here to join the virtual event.

Event registration opens at 4.30 pm and presentations commence at 5.00 pm.
There will be a Networking after the presentations.

Companies Presenting

HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE)

HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) is a listed investment company that provides investors with access to private company investments. Listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, HVPE sits in the FTSE 250 and has net assets of $4.0 billion and a market capitalisation of approximately £1.9 billion as at 30 September 2024. HVPE invests exclusively in HarbourVest managed funds. HarbourVest Partners is an independent, global private markets asset manager with over 42 years of experience.

Presenter:
Richard Hickman, Managing Director
Richard Hickman joined HarbourVest in 2014 to focus on the activities of HarbourVest Global Private Equity Limited (HVPE), a closed-end investment company that invests in and alongside HarbourVest-managed funds. Richard is responsible for the day-to-day management of the company. He joined HarbourVest after seven years with 3i plc, where he progressed through a number of roles, latterly serving as a manager in the business planning and analysis group.

Shepherd Neame Ltd (SHEP)

Shepherd Neame is Britain’s Oldest Brewer, based in Kent since 1698. It is a family business with strong family involvement and a balance of Neame family members and non-family members on the Board of Directors.
The Company brews, markets and distributes its own beers to national and export customers under a range of highly successful brand names including Spitfire, Bishops Finger, Whitstable Bay and Bear Island.
The Company also has partnerships with Boon Rawd Brewery Company for Singha beer, Thailand’s original premium beer.

Presenters:
Jonathan Neame – Chief Executive
Jonathan joined the Company in 1991. He was Company Secretary until July 1994 and Tied Trade Director until 1999. He was appointed Managing Director in 1999 and then Chief Executive in 2003. He is a barrister-at-law and was a management consultant with the COBA Group from 1987 to 1991. He was Chairman of the British Beer & Pub Association from 2012 to 2015 and a Non-Executive Director of the St Austell Brewery Company Ltd from 2002 until 2018. He is a Director of the Brewers of Europe and was Vice President from 2022 to 2024. He is Deputy Lieutenant of Kent and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Kent in 2016.

Mark Rider – Chief Financial Officer
Mark was appointed to the Board in February 2012. He joined the Company from J Sainsbury plc, where he held a number of senior finance roles. Prior to joining Sainsbury’s he qualified as a chartered accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He is a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Rugby Players Association. He has been an advisory Board member of the Zero Carbon Forum during this year.

EnSilica plc (ENSI)

EnSilica is a designer and supplier of mixed signal ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). ASICs are Integrated Circuits or semiconductor chips developed for a particular use or product rather than for general purpose usage. ASICs help differentiate products through optimised hardware making products smaller, faster, lower power, improved security, add novel functionality, improving supply chain security and protecting products from being copied.

The Company has expertise in the area of designing complex mixed signal ASICs. Mixed signal ASICs combine digital and analogue functions onto a single chip. They are the most complex chips to design hence the highest value.

The Company was established in 2001 as a specialist consultancy designing ICs on a contract basis. Using over 15 years’ first-hand industry experience, the Company was able to begin transitioning to a fabless design and supply business model in 2016.

Presenter:
Mark Hodgkins- Executive Chair
Mark graduated from the University of Manchester and is a Chartered Accountant. He started working with EnSilica in May 2016. Formerly a Partner with Grant Thornton and Ernst & Young, specialising in strategy for mid-sized companies. He advised on corporate transactions, worth in excess of £2.5Bn. Since leaving Ernst & Young in 2005, Mark has served as CEO of a number of engineering businesses, with experience in leadership positions including publicly listed businesses.

Group description:	Our group is interested in sustainable investing and our goal is to identify and evaluate businesses that will thrive through innovation and their transition to a ‘One Planet Economy’. By leveraging the skills of group members, we aim to deeply understand these businesses, particularly focusing on how they develop long-term valuable benefits for their customers. Each year, we plan to evaluate around seven businesses to identify opportunities where our valuation exceeds the market price. A successful outcome is defined as achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR), including dividends, of 10% over a decade.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are in-person in a pub near to Waterloo station in London.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are bi-monthly on a Monday from 10:45am to 4:30pm. Members are expected to also pay for their own lunch which secures the group free use of a private room in the pub. The cost is expected to be £35-40 per person, per meeting, in addition to your SIGnet membership fee.

Group description:	SIGnet Taunton is a new group with around 10 keen members at present, with a range of investment styles and experience. We welcome new members.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person meetings at a golf club near to the centre of Taunton.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	We meet on the first Monday of every month at a golf club near to the centre of Taunton, 11am until 3pm with a lunch break.

Group description:	An online group for those who are new to investing, or have only been investing for a few years. Including topics such as: – What is a share or a bond, why and how to buy them. – Comparing funds, unit trusts, Investment trusts and exchange traded funds. – Portfolio management and diversification. – ISAs, pensions, SIPPS and how to save tax. – How terms such as PE ratio and dividend yield are used to value a share. – How to use technical analysis or charting.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online using Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Monday of the month at 7:00pm.

Group description:	An online group for those who already have some experience in investing. Covering topics such as finding companies to invest in, financial statements and ratios, valuation / margin of safety, analysis of companies and investment trusts and exchange traded funds.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online using Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are usually held on the last Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm.

Group description:	The Equity Income Group welcomes investors of all levels of experience, from beginners to advanced. The focus of meetings is on dividend paying Investment Trusts, though there is also discussion around individual shares.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held every 6 weeks on a weekday between 7 and 8:30pm.

Group description:	A welcoming group open to all types of investors. Typical meeting content is to have a deep dive presentation on a topic selected by the participants and a session on buy/ sell/ key lessons learnt last month.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person at a friendly pub close to Piccadilly Circus
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly during the evening on the first Wednesday of the month.

Group description:	All levels of experience welcome. A typical meeting agenda includes: – Macro Environment – Trades: Members review existing positions and identify securities with promising TA entry patterns or setups and with suitable risk/reward. Any security, long, short, futures, options may be considered. The convener takes actual positions in trades and maintains his own detailed ledger, accurately measuring performance of individual securities and cumulative activity. Members are notified by e-mail prior to the entries or exits that are decided upon. Following each meeting an updated copy of the ledger is circulated together with the next meeting agenda. Members may wish to maintain similar ledgers of their own but there is no obligation to do so. – Technical Analysis: Techniques and systems used in trades. Members can request discussion of particular aspects of TA.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online via Zoom
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	The first Tuesday of every month from 7 to 9pm

Group description:	Open to all investors / people with an interest in investing. Typical meeting will involve members talking about recent purchases, successes, failures and possible future purchases. Also with occasional visiting speakers or members making presentations on a topic of interest.
Meeting Type/Venue:	We aim to meet on the last Tuesday of each month in a private room at a pub in Playhatch. Start time 7pm with members encouraged to meet up around 6pm for a bite to eat / drink before hand, if their diaries allow.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	7pm on the last Tuesday of the month. Meetings likely to last about two hours but with informal ‘overspill’ before / after.

Group description:	Our group members have wide ranging investment experience and work backgrounds. Discussion topics include reviewing our recent stock or collective investment buying and selling activity, plus what we are considering buying or selling and the reasons for our decisions. We also have a wider discussion on where we think opportunities might arise in the next few months and what we think needs to be avoided. Members occasionally lead discussions on specific topics such as recent events attended, articles or books of interest and sources of investment ideas and information.
Meeting Type/Venue:	During the pandemic our meetings were held on Zoom, but we have now resumed meeting in person at a location a few miles to the west of Colchester. Most meetings will now be in person, but it is possible that occasional meetings will be held on Zoom in special circumstances.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	We meet midweek every two months. Zoom meetings run for about two hours from 10.30am and in person meetings from 11am until about 3pm, including a break for lunch.