Diamond: GrabAGun
Now here’s an investment opportunity that would be fun to debate with your ethics committee.
The online weapons retailer GrabAGun is proposing to list on the NYSE via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company run by Omeed Malik, the conservative financier whose venture capital firm 1789 Capital claims to be “funding the next chapter of American exceptionalism”.
Just in case you thought the whole operation wasn’t quite in line with US President Donald Trump’s Maga slogan, one of Malik’s partners is none other than Donald Trump jnr, the eldest son of the country’s leader.
GrabAGun claims to be the “Amazon of guns”, bringing the convenience of the online shopping experience to the exercising of citizens’ second amendment rights.
The right of the people to keep and bear arms can now be acted on from the comfort of their La-Z-Boy recliner, so if anyone is sitting back with a six pack and a vague inkling of storming the Capitol, they can rustle up the assault rifle of their dreams in a couple of clicks. And if the tariff wars have made cash a bit tight, the company even offers a “shoot now, pay later” option.
It’s not just guns, of course; customers can pick up a night-vision kit, ammunition galore, knives and all the camping gear that’s so essential when they take themselves off to the backwoods of Montana for a month or two.
Now that the likes of Walmart have got a bit queasy about stocking the guns that kill just shy of 50,000 Americans a year, the market is fragmented and may well be ripe for the plucking by a company that happily states: “We sell ’em, you shoot ’em.”
PRINT HEAD: Sausage rolls with punches
Dog: Greggs
QUOTE: Greggs is staying open later to capitalise on its menu’s remarkable ability to soak up the effect of a barrel or two of brown ale
The UK has long elevated complaining about the weather to something of an art form, so it’s perhaps less than surprising that the subject is increasingly creeping into the corporate world.
Bakery chain Greggs is renowned as the company that has raised the sausage roll to its proper place among the pantheon of mystery meat-related snacks, but its latest profit warning blamed “very high temperatures” for a drop in foot count.
The UK weather service has confirmed that the past June was the hottest on record for England, which explains why the punters were at home with their heads in the fridge rather than popping out for a pink jammie doughnut.
Despite the gloomy sales outlook, Greggs continues to expand, aiming to add about 145 openings this year to its current 2,649 outlets.
Last year’s UK budget is estimated to have added about £100m to Greggs’ costs, but management remains confident that its plans to mitigate the effect of cost inflation should improve performance in the second half of the year.
Sadly, the market seems to be raising a quizzical eyebrow, and the share price is down about 40% this year.
There are concerns that the company may have saturated the market, particularly in its traditional heartland in the north of England and Scotland. And while its aggressive pricing may insulate it to some degree from pressures on disposable income, it is certainly not immune to them.
The Newcastle-based company has been providing locals with sausage rolls and steak bakes since 1939, and its stores are staying open later to capitalise on its menu’s remarkable ability to soak up the effect of a barrel or two of brown ale.
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