The Sharestock September 5 speakers lineup is now complete, and with only 12 of the 100 places on the lawn still available, anyone thinking about attending needs to move quickly.
The event takes place on Saturday 5 September beside the River Dee, between Chester and Wrexham, at what host Tom Winnifrith calls the Welsh Hovel. Tickets can be booked via the ShareProphets website.
Both of Britain’s Buffetts on the Same Stage
In most years, Sharestock draws one of the two investors routinely nicknamed Britain’s Buffett. This time both will appear. Jim Mellon takes the stage just before lunch; Nigel Wray follows immediately after. For investors who follow either man’s thinking on markets and portfolio construction, that pairing alone is a draw.
The other headline addition is Mark Slater, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Slater Investments, which he co-founded in 1994. Winnifrith describes him as the most gifted small-cap fund manager in Britain. The track record behind that claim is public: the Slater Investments fact sheet shows the Slater Growth Fund delivered cumulative returns of 242.8% since inception, against 73.6% for the IA UK All Companies benchmark, as of 31 July 2024. The fund sits heavily in smaller companies, with 42.5% in micro-caps and 36.7% in small-caps at that same date.
The Sharestock September 5 Speaker Sessions in Full
Beyond the headline names, several sessions will interest investors who want substance rather than generalities.
A bitcoin debate will see Winnifrith, who is bearish on the asset, go head to head with Andrew Webley, founder and CEO of The Smarter Web Company. Webley’s firm, originally set up as a web business in 2009, subsequently listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and adopted a bitcoin treasury strategy. The Smarter Web Company positions itself as Britain’s largest publicly listed bitcoin holder, and Webley has presented the company’s approach at Strategy.com’s international bitcoin corporate adoption event. Hearing both sides argued live, by principals with real money on the line, is a different exercise from reading commentary online.
A separate session with Barry Downes and Brian Kinane will tackle artificial intelligence directly: whether it is a bubble, which listed companies face being wiped out, and how it will alter working lives. These are questions every equity investor with UK or US exposure is already grappling with.
Peter Brailey will interview two company bosses. One is Cathal Friel, co-founder and Chair of European Green Transition plc, which trades on AIM under the ticker EGT and focuses on acquiring and optimising businesses in the critical infrastructure sector across the UK and Ireland. Friel previously co-founded Amryt Pharma, sold to Chiesi Farmaceutici for $1.48 billion in April 2023. An investor presentation filed with FT Markets sets out EGT’s acquisition-led strategy for anyone wanting background before the session. The second interviewee is Chris Gilbert of Eco Buildings.
Returning regulars will also hear from Lucian Miers, Evil Banksta and Winnifrith himself. The social programme includes the evening pizza gathering the night before, chef Vijay’s lunch, cold salmon supper with home-made ice cream, Joshua’s croquet, Jaya’s plum and ginger cake stand, and Bara Brith at tea.
What Retail Investors Get from a Day Like This
Events where fund managers, company founders and private investors share the same informal setting are uncommon. The format allows the kind of direct questioning that a polished investor day rarely permits. For ISA or SIPP investors who pick individual stocks, the combination of small-cap fund management thinking (Slater), bitcoin treasury strategy (Webley), AIM company access (Friel, Gilbert) and AI analysis (Downes, Kinane) covers most of the live debates in UK retail portfolios right now.
With 12 seats left from 100, the decision is straightforward: book now or miss it. The day is Saturday 5 September on the banks of the River Dee. Camping by the river is available for those travelling from further afield.
