Only 12 of the original 100 seats remain for Sharestock September 5, the annual investing day held on the banks of the River Dee between Chester and Wrexham, and the speaker list is shaping up to be the strongest yet.
Tom Winnifrith, who organises the event, says both of the investors dubbed Britain’s Buffett will be on stage this year. Jim Mellon speaks just before lunch; Nigel Wray takes the slot straight after. Normally only one of the two appears at Sharestock in any given year.
The Sharestock September 5 Speaker Lineup
One addition that will interest investors in smaller companies is Mark Slater. Winnifrith describes him as the most gifted small-cap fund manager in Britain. Slater studied at Cambridge from 1988 to 1991 before going on to co-found Slater Investments in 1994 with Ralph Baber. The firm now manages segregated portfolios for large corporate pension schemes, charities and high-net-worth individuals, alongside three unit trusts and a hedge fund.
Peter Brailey will interview two company bosses in place of Winnifrith. One is Cathal Friel, co-founder and non-executive chairman of European Green Transition (AIM: EGT). Friel is a serial entrepreneur who has listed five companies on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). His best-known exit was Amryt Pharma, which he co-founded, listed on the LSE in 2016, dual-listed on Nasdaq in 2020, and ultimately sold to Chiesi Farmaceutici for $1.48 billion in April 2023.
EGT itself has shifted its focus in recent years. Rather than early-stage exploration, the company is now pursuing an acquisition strategy targeting revenue-generating businesses in the critical infrastructure sector across the UK and Ireland.
The second company boss Brailey will grill is Chris Gilbert of Eco Buildings.
Bitcoin, AI and Two Company Bosses
Winnifrith will take part in a session dedicated to Bitcoin and the emerging trend of holding Bitcoin on company balance sheets, taking the bearish side of the argument against Andrew Webley, chief executive of The Smarter Web Company (AQSE: SWC). SWC is an AQUIS-quoted Bitcoin treasury and digital services group. Its shares jumped as much as 23% after Webley published a quarterly update setting out the investment case for different categories of shareholder.
According to the company’s equity snapshot dated 1 June 2026, SWC had 371,965,705 shares in issue, with Webley and his family holding 27,565,134 shares, equivalent to 7.41% of the company.
Rounding out the programme, Barry Downes and Brian Kinane will lead a session on artificial intelligence: whether it constitutes a bubble, which listed companies face being left behind, and how it will reshape working life. Returning speakers include Lucian Miers and Evil Banksta.
For those who have attended before, the social side is unchanged: the evening pizza gathering the night before, chef Vijay’s lunch, a cold salmon supper with home-made ice cream, Joshua’s croquet, Jaya’s plum and ginger cake stand, and Bara Brith at tea. Camping by the river is available for those who want it.
With just 12 of the 100 lawn places still available for the Sharestock September 5 event, the remaining seats are likely to go before the full speaker schedule is even confirmed. Winnifrith says the final timings will be announced within days.
