If you’d invested in: MaySale and Atlas Mara
MySale Group is an online retailer backed by Philip Green and Mike Ashley, while Atlas Mara is a financial services company founded by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond.
MySale Group (Aim: MYSL) is an online retailer operating mainly in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Its investors include Philip Green and Mike Ashley, and the firm has entered into a partnership with Sports Direct, which is controlled by Ashley. Gross profit for the year ending June 2016 rose by 21% to A$66.6m, reduced to a loss after tax of A$ 0.2m due to "a number of exceptional and non-cash items". The share price has risen by more than 100% in the last year.
Be glad you didn't
Atlas Mara (Aim: ATMA) is a financial services company founded by former Barclays boss Bob Diamond and entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar. The company's stated aim is "to create sub-Saharan Africa's premier financial institution", having acquired banks in seven African countries, from Nigeria to Rwanda. Things haven't been going so well, but Diamond is optimistic, claiming he is playing a "long game". The share price has tumbled, however, down by almost 60% in the last year, and over 80% since it floated in 2013.
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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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