If you'd invested in: Coats Group and Mothercare

Venerable British thread-maker Coats is flying high, while Mothercare continues to struggle.

If only

829-coats

Coats Group (LSE: COA) is a venerable British maker of threads and textiles, with a history going back to the 1750s. It's not always been plain sailing. By the end of the last century it was facing oblivion, and in the early 2000s was bought up by investment firm Guinness Peat, who took the company private. It returned to the stockmarket in 2015, and now employs 19,000 people in 60 countries. After a deal to settle its pension deficit in December that enabled it to pay dividends, the share price took off. In the last year, the shares have risen by 180%.

Be glad you didn't

829-mothercare

Mothercare (LSE: MTC) has been battling a decline in sales for a long time, stuck in an endless "turnaround" loop. Competition has been eroding margins and customers have been deserting the stores. In April 2016 a dramatic drop in international sales caused a big fall in the shares. Despite a rally after positive news a month later, the shares have fallen steadily since. The price has turned back up in the last few weeks, but remains more than 40% down in the last year.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Explore More
Ben Judge

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.