Quantum Wealth Summary

 

  • The market doesn’t always price great businesses correctly
  • There is one test you can use to find hidden gems that could deliver growth and income
  • In this dispatch, we look at how to find businesses that are both productive and ethical
  • We look into several promising companies on our watch list

 

 

When we lived in Europe, our local supermarket was Waitrose.

It was a pleasant shopping experience. Free coffee. A free newspaper of your choosing. The option to scan your own groceries.

Regardless of the season, a plethora of fresh fruit and vegetables were available year-round. From micro-greens to aubergines to raspberries. All sitting in their baskets in chilled perfection.

Returning to New Zealand in 2018, you may think I miss all this.

In actual fact, the seasonal fruit and vegetables here — with limited availability according to the season — tastes different. There is a naturalness and freshness I do not recall in Britain.

Exploring a little further, a good portion of the fruit and veg that stocks European supermarkets are grown on ‘The Plastic Coast of Andalusia’.

 

Mar de Plástico, the world’s largest plastic greenhouse complex, covers more than 185 square miles (over 118,000 acres) near Almeria in Spain’s south-east.
Source: Bloomberg

 

The greenhouses provide efficient and productive farming. The plastic reflects so much sunlight back into the atmosphere, they are actually cooling the province.

Yet there is a dark side to this productivity; to year-round fruit and veg perfection in Europe’s supermarkets.

Tens of thousands of African migrants are apparently taken cruel advantage of.

I first became aware of this watching Simon Reeve’s compelling series on the Mediterranean.

Migrants live in shacks nearby. They work long hours in the greenhouses, in temperatures often above 40 degrees Celsius. The air thick with extreme humidity and pesticides.

There is evidence that some are abused, exploited, and there have been unreported deaths on the job.

The migrant who spoke to Simon said he felt he was ‘an expendable machine’.

If you ever feel you have a complaint over your own work situation, please spare a thought for Alameria’s low-wage hothouse migrants. And many others the world over that provide industrial productivity at deep personal cost.

 

Migrant settlement outside San Isidro, hosting more than 200 greenhouse ‘slaves’.
Source: Al Jazerra

Had I known the reality of my courgettes, they may have tasted quite different.

As investors, productivity — the most economically produced goods — gives rise to a successful company. And, likely, a profitable investment.

In this report, I want to look at some of the most productive companies on my watch list. Potentially some of the most profitable investments available.

But we will also run the ruler over their ethics.

We want to invest in good businesses with great margins. Only when that is achieved without exploitation.

Let’s take a look…