Gamble of the week: Bright future for fabrics maker

Things can only get better for this beleaguered non-woven fabrics firm, says Phil Oakley. Brave investors should buy in now.

Fiberweb (LSE: FWEB) makes non-woven fabrics out of materials such as polypropylene, polyethylene and polyester. These fabrics are used in many areas of day-to-day life, including protective housewrap in the building trade, artificial grass, crop protection sheets and filtration products.

The company has been fighting battles ever since it was demerged from aviation services group BBA in 2006. BBA stuffed it full of debt and a pension fund deficit, while the company also had to deal with hard-bargaining, powerful customers such as consumer products giant Procter & Gamble.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.