FTSE 250 to Z: 🟢 Gamma | 🟡 Genuit | 🟢 Genus | 🟢 Goodwin | 🟡 Grafton
Pig semen (really), gigantic steel castings, a third of the UK's business phone calls, and lots of building supplies
A more interesting batch of companies this week, including Genus, which I discovered is a global leader in pig genomics, and Goodwin, which has a long storied engineering history and plenty of opportunity in the defense, nuclear and plastic resin sectors. As before these are quick summaries with red, amber, green denoting whether I want to take a closer look. You can search the full list of FTSE 250 companies here.
This is not investment advice and all opinions are my own.
Jump to: Gamma | Genuit | Genus | Goodwin | Grafton
🟢 GAMMA COMMUNICATIONS (GAMA)
Mkt cap: £907m | Revenue FY24: £579m| Net income FY24: £70m | Latest price
In some ways Gamma feels eerily like to Future. Sure, this a business that makes a lot of money from hosting telephone calls (around one third of all business calls transit the Gamma network in the UK), rather than owning a portfolio of magazines, but like Future, its business is rooted in the old economy, its share price went on a tear until 2021 as investors re-rated it as a new economy, cloud-driven, growth stock, and its shares then slumped as growth expectations failed to deliver and the P/E ratio came crashing back down to old economy levels. But like Future, it remains a highly cash generative business and is using this to fund modest M&A plus a healthy buyback programme. It also recently moved from AIM to the main UK market, which is a positive sign of management intent and stock liquidity. Technological obsolescence is a big risk here – is anyone going to talk to anyone on the phone in ten years’ time (especially if Gen Z don’t talk at all)? But any uptick in UK or German growth (where Gamma recently completed acquisitions) could trigger a re-rating over a shorter period. There also seems an ongoing growth opportunity, as companies migrate from fixed lines to cloud communications, with Gamma serving as the integrator/enabler of these different services (e.g. connecting Microsoft Teams to phone lines).
Other views: Margin of Value | Investing with Wes | Vinvest
Last updated: 18 September 2025
🟡 GENUIT (GEN)
Mkt cap: £842m | Revenue FY24: £561m| Net income FY24: £33.5m
Genuit, formerly known as Polypipe, is a manufacturer of plastic piping systems for water and ventilation systems, which now pitches itself as a provider of “sustainable building solutions”. The company has gone all-in on the sustainability pitch – and while this feels a little out of vogue today / not to be mentioned in the US, there’s no denying that climate change, and the need for civilisations to adapt to changing temperatures, remains a long-term investment theme. Okay, there is plenty of denying but let’s not get into that here. So, the question is really to what extent this business is geared to climate adaptation, or whether it’s all just a bit of marketing spiel. My quick take is that it’s less climate-geared, and more UK construction-geared, which is in turn UK-economy geared. Parking in neutral for now.
Last updated: 25 September 2025
🟢 GENUS (GNS)
Mkt cap: £1.54bn | Revenue FY25: £673m| Net income FY25: £19.3m
Did you know the UK was a world leader in pig semen? I didn’t, and I spent a lot of time a few years ago dwelling on UK sectoral strengths. Well, it turns out that Genus, a company that traces its roots to the Breeding & Production Division of the UK’s Milk Marketing Board, and an old British firm called the Pig Improvement Company (no messing around with names back in the day) is the global leader in porcine genetics with a 16% market share. This isn’t petri dish-style genetic modification but rather rearing, selecting and breeding “super” pigs at the very top of the pig breeding pyramid, which can then be sold on down. Genus makes money either from a direct sale of an animal or from future events such as a baby piglet coming along courtesy of Genus’ products. There is a lot of IP at the top of this pyramid, which insulates the business from competitive threats and makes it less exposed to production cycles. Porcine is where Genus has historically made its money, with the bovine (cow) segment of the business operating in a more fragmented market with more competition. Global leadership – even in the less than glamourous world of pig breeding – doesn’t come cheap. The P/E ratio is currently around 25 and has been close to 50 in the past, quite the leap from the sub 15 levels that dominate the FTSE 250. However, this is an interesting company with what appears to be niche IP and growth opportunities from further market consolidation.
Last update: 25 September 2025
🟢 GOODWIN (GDWN)
Mkt cap: £1.00bn | Revenue FY25: £200m| Net income FY24: £24.6m
Goodwin’s share price has more than doubled in the last six months so something must be going right. This British industrial founded in 1883 retains the motto “on fonde pour le monde” on its annual report, translated as “one founds (as in to found, meaning to cast molten metal into a mold) for the world”. It is based in Stoke-on-Trent and occupies market-leading positions across two operating divisions: mechanical engineering, which is the heart of the business accounting for 71% of revenues, and includes the steel castings unit that produces huge valves and other parts for the defence, nuclear and oil industries; and refractory engineering, which accounts for the remaining 29% of revenues, and focuses on “mineral-based products” including investment powders that are used to create molds for jewellery castings. The business is still 54% owned by the Goodwin family and doesn’t care much for such things as financial forecasts. However, the fundamentals of the business look solid, and I like how it combines niche engineering expertise with the structural themes of rearmament and nuclear revival. There is also a huge opportunity for Goodwin to capture market share in its Duvelco division, where it has developed a competitor to Dupont’s highly successful Vespel product, a “super-plastic” resin. The company has said it expects Duvelco to be its “largest and most profitable division in years to come”.
Other views: The Curious Compounder
Last updated: 26 September 2025
🟡 GRAFTON (GFTU)
Mkt cap: £1.72bn | Revenue FY24: £2.28bn| Net income FY24: £122m
Grafton is an Irish headquartered building materials distributor that has set itself on becoming one of Europe’s leading firms in this sector. Through a series of acquisitions, including the Spanish firm Salvador Escoda in 2024, the company has expanded its footprint across Europe, while retaining a strong balance sheet and returning lots of cash to shareholders in recent years. It feels to me like a quintessential FTSE 250 firm – not exciting but a critical cog in the economy, with some not exciting but solid financials to go alongside. The business is clearly cyclical so any uptick in European growth should support an uptick in top line performance. It’s all very solid, just not that interesting.