2023 General, news, etc, page-15

We tend to focus on contracts that NWH may land, but we should remember that firms like Brierty, Clough and Primero that have fallen on their face due to contracts that they won, not because there was a dearth of work. NWH needs to carefully avoid falling into the same trap.

NWH must be very selective when it comes to bidding for business, and very assiduous in building skills that deliver good margins as a long-term rule, rather than as short-term one-offs. Complementation is part of the strategy to get into acceptable-margin business, so easily digestible bolt-on acquisitions that complement NWH's services are part of the building-skills process. I used the adjective "acceptable-margin" to highlight that the long-term game plan requires considerations that are not contract specific. That is, generic things, like staff loyalty, succession planning, customer loyalty, lower cyclical troughs, and anything that conduces to long-term viability and risk mitigation (low debt is one of those factors).

I see no evidence that Management does not understand these things, so I hold the stock with a great deal of confidence.