If you’d invested in: Fishing Republic and N Brown
Rotherham-based Fishing Republic has grown to become the country’s biggest retailer of fishing tackle and angling supplies.
Rotherham-based Fishing Republic (Aim: FISH) opened its first shop in Barnsley in 2005. It has since grown to become the country's biggest retailer of fishing tackle and angling supplies, and now operates ten shops, primarily in the north of England. It is also expanding online, with sales through its own website and via third-party sites, such as Amazon, up by more than 30% last year.
The shares have risen by more than 130% since it floated on Aim in 2015.
N Brown Group (LSE: BWNG) is a clothes, shoes and furniture retailer, based in Manchester. The group trades under several brands, including JD Williams, Jacamo, and Simply Be. Originally a mail-order business, it is slowly transforming itself into a digital retailer, but this has been a difficult process. Pre-tax profit fell by almost 8% in the year to the end of February, and the share price has slid almost 30% in the last year.
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Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.
Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.
As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.
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