Put these back room boys at the front of your mind
INVESTMENT veteran Matthew Hudson set up MJ Hudson in 2010 as a one-man band that focused on helping fund managers to run their own businesses. Thousands of people in the financial services industry had been laid off during the financial crisis. Many were looking for new careers and Hudson’s firm helped them on their way.
The company specialised in back room services like administrative, legal and regulatory support relating to so-called alternative investments, from private equity and venture capital to infrastructure and renewable energy.
Today, MJ Hudson has 300 staff, offices in the UK, Europe and America and 1,200 clients, from small start-ups to giants such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as well as pension funds, including Lloyds Bank and Marks & Spencer.
The group listed on AIM on December 12, 2019, the day of the General Election. The shares were priced at 57p, fell to 38p when the coronavirus pandemic erupted and are now 50p.
The price reflects neither MJ Hudson’s performance to date nor its prospects and the stock should rise both this year and beyond.
A lawyer by training, Hudson has spent 33 years advising businesses on alternative investments. Through that time, he has developed a wide network of contacts and an encyclopaedic knowledge of his field.
Hudson is also fiercely entrepreneurial and is determined to build MJ Hudson into a top provider of alternative investment services. The group is well on the way to achieving this ambition in Europe. There is some way to go in America but the seeds have been sown and the outlook is bright.
Hudson has not just expanded into new parts of the world over the past decade. He has also branched into new areas of the market. From offering services such as legal and administration, Hudson began to offer advice, such as whether pension plans should invest in infrastructure funds and if so, which were the best ones to choose.
In recent years too the group has developed an analytics division, helping customers to see how they compare with their peers in terms of performance and costs. The subsidiary also helps fund managers and pension funds with environmental issues so they can assess whether the companies they invest in are as green and responsible as they make out.
This division alone has grown by around 80 per cent over the past year, after Hudson bought a Dutch specialist in the field two years ago. Based in Amsterdam, Spring Associates are so committed to their cause that the owners cycled for 19 hours – from Holland to the City of London – when they first came to meet Hudson.
Four more acquisitions have been completed since MJ Hudson floated and more deals are in the pipeline, all relating to existing areas of business. The group’s financial year ends on June 30 and brokers predict a 35 per cent increase in revenues to £27million, with profits soaring from £0.6 million to £2.8 million and further strong growth in 2022. Dividend payments are expected to start this year too, with 0.1p pencilled in for the current year, rising to 0.3p next.