Just caught up with an interesting story via CNN Money today.

Care to guess what’s the most successful stock over the last 53 years since 1968?

“One dollar invested in this company in 1968 was worth $6,638 yesterday (including dividends). That’s an annual return of 20.6% per year for nearly half a century. No other company comes close to matching its long-term results, according to Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel. The same dollar invested in the S&P 500 over the same period would be worth $87, or 98% less.”

The answer is Altria, the fags company.  And Altria is just the tip of the speer. The same CNN story cites Credit Suisse research which suggests that one dollar invested in tobacco stocks in 1900 was worth $6.3 million by 2010. That’s 165 times greater than the average industry.

Read the whole story here :

https://money.cnn.com/2015/02/19/investing/americas-best-stock-ever/

By way of complete contrast, I also noticed another interesting crypto flotation today: it looks and smells a bit like KR1, in that it seems to be investing in Defi and blockchain i.e digital decentralized finance. The new listing is called Dispersion Holdings plc and has been established by entrepreneur Mike Edwards, the co-founder of the LSE listed Argo Blockchain, one of the highest risers in the history of the main market.

“Dispersion Holdings will be only the second DeFi investment firm to list in the UK. DeFi is a disruptive technology using blockchain and cryptocurrencies to remove intermediaries from transactions, creating a more efficient and secure way of providing financial services.

This month the DeFi ecosystem breached $100 billion in total value, Swiss banks are now scrambling to have their clients exposed to DeFi and some of the biggest funds in the US are also piling in. 

  • The flotation is expected to value Dispersion Holdings at approximately £25m. 
  • The company has been established by Mike Edwards, co-founder of the LSE listed cryptominer Argo Blockchain, which is one of the highest risers in the history of the main market.
  • The board comprises a team of experts with several decades’ experience in structuring and financing tech start-ups; in the DeFi, crypto and digital assets management sectors; as well as in the media industry, to drive value creation.
  • Dispersion will identify investment opportunities in the high growth DeFi sector and acquire minority interests in and apply their expertise to companies within the broad FinTech sector.

 The flotation is expected to value Dispersion Holdings at approximately £25m. “

I have no view on any of this except to observe that KR1s share price went ballistic – though it has returned a bit to earth in the last few days. KR1 was also listed on the AQSE Growth market.