Author: The Fifth Person

This article is Part 3 of the three-part series — 3 Great Companies I Found on Scuttlebutt While I was in Thailand. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 here. An article by The Fifth Person previously mentioned that Thailand will be BreadTalk’s third key growth market of growth, after Singapore and China. It took nine years to open 19 BreadTalk bakeries and Toast Box outlets in Thailand. With its joint venture with Minor Group, BreadTalk’s expects to open 60-100 new outlets in the next ten years in Thailand from 2015 onwards. As an investor, we are always eager to match what...

Photo: Hua Hin Paradise City This article is Part 2 of the three-part series — 3 Great Companies I Found on Scuttlebutt While I was in Thailand. You can read Part 1 here. What’s a vacation in Bangkok like if you don’t visit the city’s busiest shopping district and its famous crown jewel, Siam Paragon mall? I was there various times to (window) shop, dine, and watch a movie. While there are a plethora of brands and shops in the mall, I noticed the cinema was run by Major Cineplex Group (SET: MAJOR). Major Cineplex Group is Thailand’s leading lifestyle...

Philip Fisher was one of most influential investors of all time. The man and his book, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, had a major impact on Warren Buffett’s line of thinking and investment philosophy. Philip Fisher also believed in what he called ‘scuttlebutt’. Scuttlebutt in slang means rumor or gossip. In Fisher’s case, scuttlebutt was an approach which involves seeking information about a business through the grapevine. By speaking to management, customers, suppliers, employees, etc., an investor can find out crucial facts about a company that numbers and pure quantitative analysis can’t. So six months since I had my...