| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| - | - | - |
| 2025 |
|---|
| 9.5% |
The Oak Bloke reviews his 2024 stock picks performance in 2025, achieving a 9.5% average gain plus 3.5% in dividends for a 13% total return. Despite mixed individual results ranging from Georgia Capital's 159% gain to Digital 9 Infrastructure's 69% loss, the portfolio outperformed his broader 4% return in 2025. Key holdings span mining companies with exposure to copper, gold, uranium and other metals, energy companies positioned for data center demand and LNG growth, biotechnology firms developing cellular agriculture, and fintech companies outgrowing traditional banks. Many positions trade at significant discounts to net asset value, with catalysts including share buybacks, potential IPOs, and operational improvements expected in 2026. The manager maintains conviction in all remaining positions, viewing current valuations as attractive entry points. Portfolio construction emphasizes UK small caps with defensive characteristics through asset backing, while capturing upside from commodity price recovery and sector-specific growth drivers across mining, energy, and technology themes.
UK small cap value investing focused on companies trading at significant discounts to net asset value with multiple catalysts for value realization including buybacks, asset sales, and operational improvements.
Optimistic about 2026 prospects for remaining holdings with expectation that value will be realized through various catalysts including buybacks, IPOs, and operational improvements. Believes current discounts to NAV across multiple holdings present attractive opportunities.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2 2026 | 2025 Q4 | ANIC.L, AUGM.L, BSRT.L, CGEO.L, DEC.L, DGI9.L, FAIR.L, IPO.L, KZG.L, PINE.L, POW.L, PTAL.L, TCAP.L, TMT.L | Biotechnology, Discounts, energy, Fintech, Mining, small caps, United Kingdom, value |
CGEO LN ANIC LN FAIR LN DEC LN PTAL CN IPO LN POW LN TMT LN AUGM LN KZG LN |
Multiple mining holdings across metals including copper, gold, silver, tin, and uranium. Baker Steel Resources Trust contains significant exposure to copper developers, gold royalties, and tungsten projects. Power Metal Resources holds uranium and copper projects with royalties and blockchain mining ventures. Diversified Energy Company provides natural gas exposure positioned for data center energy needs and LNG growth. PetroTal offers oil production exposure at significant discount to NAV despite operational challenges. Energy transition themes present across multiple holdings. Agronomics provides exposure to cellular agriculture and alternative protein production. BlueNalu focuses on cultured seafood with commercial launch expected in 2026. Liberation Bioindustries opening first commercial factory for alternative protein production. Augmentum Fintech holds UK challenger banks including Iwoca, Zopa, and Tide showing strong revenue and profit growth. These fintech companies are outpacing traditional UK banks despite share price underperformance. Digital 9 Infrastructure holds telecom infrastructure assets including Arqiva stake. Despite poor 2025 performance, potential capital returns and asset sales could unlock value. Infrastructure assets provide defensive characteristics. |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
BiotechnologyHealthcare industry positioned for catch-up growth after several years of below-trend performance. Government spending expected to increase relative to feared cuts, with companies signaling improvement in revenue growth. Focus on 'picks & shovels' businesses serving the industry. |
Life Science Tools Pharmaceuticals CRO & CDMO Healthcare Research |
EnergyEnergy plays a critical role in AI infrastructure economics, with data centers becoming major electricity consumers. Rising power costs compress margins while grid constraints and regulatory scrutiny influence deployment timelines. The manager emphasizes that unlike software-driven growth, AI compute cannot be scaled independently of physical energy reality. |
Data Centers Grid Power Infrastructure Utilities | |
FinTechThe fund continues its growth approach to investing in financial and financial-related companies, including payment businesses, financial exchanges, and data providers that enable financial transactions. The common denominator across all holdings is the use of technology and data to better serve customers and grow at above-average rates. |
Payments Digital Banking Financial Technology Data Analytics Financial Software | |
InfrastructureDigital 9 Infrastructure holds telecom infrastructure assets including Arqiva stake. Despite poor 2025 performance, potential capital returns and asset sales could unlock value. Infrastructure assets provide defensive characteristics. |
Telecom Infrastructure Digital Infrastructure | |
MiningMultiple mining holdings across metals including copper, gold, silver, tin, and uranium. Baker Steel Resources Trust contains significant exposure to copper developers, gold royalties, and tungsten projects. Power Metal Resources holds uranium and copper projects with royalties and blockchain mining ventures. |
Copper Gold Silver Uranium Tungsten |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | CGEO LN | Georgia Capital PLC | Financials | Diversified Financials | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | buybacks, discount, growth, NAV, valuation | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | ANIC LN | Agronomics Limited | Financials | Closed End Funds | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Alternativeprotein, Biotech, Navdiscount, Optionality, Regulation | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | FAIR LN | Fair Oaks Income Limited | Financials | Asset Management | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | buybacks, Clo, Credit, Income, yield | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | DEC LN | Diversified Energy Company PLC | Energy | Oil & Gas | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | buybacks, cashflow, energy, LNG, Naturalgas | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | PTAL CN | PetroTal Corp | Energy | Oil & Gas | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | leverage, Navdiscount, oil, Operations, turnaround | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | IPO LN | IP Group plc | Financials | Capital Markets | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Biotech, buybacks, Greentech, NAV, Venture | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | POW LN | Power Metal Resources plc | Materials | Diversified Metals & Mining | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Copper, Optionality, rerating, royalties, uranium | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | TMT LN | TT Investments Ltd | Financials | Asset Management | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | IPO, mobility, Navdiscount, Optionality, Privateequity | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | AUGM LN | Augmentum Fintech plc | Financials | Venture Capital | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | banking, Fintech, growth, Navdiscount, Venture | Login |
| Jan 2, 2026 | Fund Letters | The Oak Bloke | KZG LN | Kazera Global plc | Materials | Precious Metals & Minerals | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Diamonds, Lithium, Mining, Optionality, turnaround | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| ANIC.L | Bad timing on my part including it at 9.7p and today it's 6.2p although I bought plenty at sub 4p so it's been a highly profitable share for me personally. It lost -59% in 2024 and gained 60% in 2025. ANIC remains at a 50% discount to NAV and while certain holdings have gone bust in 2025, others are flourishing. |
| AUGM.L | FTSE100 UK banks have been on a tear in 2025 some like Natwest up 60%. But not the banks held by AUGM: Iwoca, Zopa and Tide. Yet AUGM's banks are outpacing and outclassing the likes of Natwest and the big 4 or so. Top 5 AUGM holdings Revenue growth of 34%, Profit growth 160%. To be down -14.2% while the NAV is down -4% in the year to 30/09/25 makes no sense to me. |
| BSRT.L | Baker Steel Resources Trust (BSRT)'s NAV moved steadily higher over the quarter driven by strong performance from its listed holdings. The Trust's managers have noted the improved financing environment for junior mining companies, and the quarter ended with the very welcome news that Australian coal miner, Futura Resources (24% of BSRT's NAV), had secured a long-awaited refinancing sufficient to repay all current debt and bring both Futura's mines into full production. |
| CGEO.L | Georgia Capital (CGEO) will be familiar to many AWO shareholders given it has been in the portfolio for seven years and has generated very strong returns over that time. For those less familiar, CGEO is a London-listed investment company with a position in publicly quoted Lion Finance (known until recently as Bank of Georgia), and a diverse set of private holdings covering the education, insurance, and renewables sectors amongst others. The attractively valued and high growth portfolio is complemented by best-in-class capital allocation, with no new investments made while the discount remains wide and proceeds from divestments used to fund share buybacks. Over the quarter, CGEO's share price appreciated by +29%, driven by a rising NAV (+15%) and a tighter discount (in from 37% to 30%). |
| DEC.L | I remain robustly positive on the outlook for DEC. US Nat Gas fell to $3.80/mmbtu but was well above $4.00 throughout the last few months and growing levels of LNG and growing needs of energy for Data Centres position DEC well for 2026. DEC acquired Canvas in November and issued 3.1m shares as part of that deal. As at 31/12/25 it has ALREADY bought back 2m of those 3.1m shares. |
| DGI9.L | A dreadful, hideous result. No two ways. The silver lining when you have a bombed out share price is the power of buy backs or tenders. News of a capital return following the cash proceeds of £34m from Aqua of circa £22m at today's market price will equate to buying 44% of shares at today's market cap. The news that DGI9 will not be acquiring a further 26.5% stake in Arqiva for just £16.5m seems a bizarre decision. |
| FAIR.L | You can currently buy Fair at a 6.5% discount at $0.47, and the latest NAV is $0.5039. Fair has positioned heavily into European CLOs and has large cushions far in excess of either the default rate or even the distress ratio. FAIR pays out $0.02 per quarter, you see, which on $0.47 is a 16.7% yield. |
| IPO.L | IP Group completed their buy back program and a major holding Hinge Health is up 40% since its IPO in May 2025. ONT reaffirmed its guidance and its shares are flat in 2025 but the outlook remains good. IPO remains a holding with numerous shots on goal within its bioscience holdings and green tech holdings so am happy to hold. |
| KZG.L | A large gain in 2024 is partly given back in 2025. Delays in getting the 34X beach, delays in getting HMS production going, diamond production going, a further fundraise, and a share price slipping back as investors lose hope mean this hasn't been a great year for KZG. Despite the setback my profit model got some level of validation from further disclosures from KZG management and news that outsize diamonds could offer substantial upside. |
| PINE.L | Considering the progress PINE have made a 0.3% return in 2025 doesn't really reflect that, but with a large order book (equal to 3 years of 2025 revenue with growth) and a compelling proposition including the Seez AI acquisition I remain keen on its prospects. |
| POW.L | Up is good, but it's barely up. Considering Uranium is now $83/Lb Spot and higher for Term, considering Copper is $12,400 tonne. Considering POW appear to be planning buy backs or some sort of capital return in 2026, considering it now has some valuable Royalties, a Blockchain Mining Funding Venture, and numerous listed project holdings including FDR, AAJ, FCM and free carries on other projects it is a bit perplexing this is up only 0.8%. |
| PTAL.L | Petrotal got a beating for pulling its chunky dividend and suffered a series of setbacks with leaks, pump failures, water handling issues, an unsuccessful workover, drilling rig delays and softer oil prices. With PTAL at well below 50% of its 1P NAV let alone the prospectivity of its 2P and 3P resources it is at a bargain price if it can sort out its issues and get back on the prize. |
| TCAP.L | This is a steady holding and good value compared with its US peers but I don't see huge upside for TCAP in 2026. Yes, perhaps their Parameta partial IPO will happen. I'm struggling not to call time on this. On balance I'll continue to hold in expectation of that IPO. |
| TMT.L | TMT delivered a positive NAV return in its results to 30/06/25 up from $205m to $213m. Yet you can buy it for $83.8m. Its major holding Bolt.EU is undervalued compared with Uber. By my own estimates buying TMT you are buying Bolt.EU for about 15X less than what investors were paying for Uber in 2022 when Uber was at a similar stage of growth. |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Buys Data | |||||
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Sells Data | ||||||
| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| No industry data available | |||
