Gamble of the week: British polythene maker

This well-run British maker of polythene films stands to profit when a sustained economic recovery gets underway, says Paul Hill. A buy for the brave.

2011 was a challenging year for Britain's industrial and construction sectors. That's why domestic volumes fell 5% for polythene films maker British Polythene Industries (BPI). However, regardless of testing conditions, which were compounded by rising input prices, BPI's figures for 2011 were impressive.

Turnover was up 6% to £508m as higher raw material costs were passed on to customers. Underlying earnings per share (EPS) rose 22% to 46.9p, with net borrowings closing £15m lower at £31m.

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Paul gained a degree in electrical engineering and went on to qualify as a chartered management accountant. He has extensive corporate finance and investment experience and is a member of the Securities Institute.

Over the past 16 years Paul has held top-level financial management and M&A roles for blue-chip companies such as O2, GKN and Unilever. He is now director of his own capital investment and consultancy firm, PMH Capital Limited.

Paul is an expert at analysing companies in new, fast-growing markets, and is an extremely shrewd stock-picker.