LONDON -- Management can make all the difference to a company's success and thus its share price.
The best companies are those run by talented and experienced leaders with strong vested interests in the success of the business, held in check by a board with sound financial and business acumen. Some of the worst investments to hold are those run by executives collecting fat rewards as the underlying business goes to pot.
In this series, I'm assessing the boardrooms of companies within the FTSE 100. I hope to separate the management teams that are worth following from those that are not. Today, I am looking at�Serco� (LSE: SRP ) , the outsourcing group.
Here are the key directors:
| Alastair Lyons | (non-exec) Chairman |
| Christopher Hyman | Chief Executive |
| Andrew Jenner | Finance Director |
Alastair Lyons was appointed chairman in 2010. He is also chairman of FTSE 100 insurer�Admiral�and deputy chairman of FTSE 250 house builder�Bovis.
5 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Invest In 2014: Stereotaxis Inc.(STXS)
Stereotaxis, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets cardiology instrument control systems for use in a hospital?s interventional surgical suite or interventional lab for the treatment of arrhythmias and coronary artery diseases in the United States and internationally. The company provides Niobe system, which includes Niobe Magnetic Navigation System that navigates catheters, guidewires, and other delivery devices through complex paths in the blood vessels and chambers of the heart to carry out treatment; Navigant, a user interface or physician control center, which physicians use to visualize and track procedures and to provide instrument control commands that govern the motion of the working tip of the catheter, guidewire, or other interventional device; Cardiodrive, a catheter advancement system to remotely advance and retract the catheter in the patient?s heart. It also offers Odyssey enterprise solutions, which provides information solutions to manage, control, rec ord, and share procedures across networks; acquires remote view of the lab capturing synchronized procedure data for review of important events during cases; and review recorded cases and create snapshots following procedures for clinical reporting, auditing, and presentation. In addition, the company provides disposable interventional devices comprising automated catheters, coronary guidewires, and navigation and ablation systems. It markets its products through its direct sales force, distributors, and sales agents. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
5 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Invest In 2014: Oceaneering International Inc.(OII)
Oceaneering International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides engineered products and services primarily to the offshore oil and gas industry with a focus on deepwater applications. The company?s Remotely Operated Vehicles segment provides submersible vehicles operated from the surface to support offshore oil and gas exploration, production, and construction activities. Its Subsea Products segment supplies various built-to-order specialty subsea hardware products. The company?s Subsea Projects segment provides multiservice vessels, oilfield diving, and support vessel operations, which are used primarily in inspection, repair, and maintenance and installation activities; and mobile offshore production systems. Its Inspection segment offers customers with a range of third-party inspection services to satisfy contractual structural specifications, internal safety standards, and regulatory requirements. The company?s Advanced Technologies segment offers project management, and engineering services and equipment for applications in non-oilfield markets. Oceaneering International, Inc. also serves defense and aerospace industries. It operates primarily in west Africa, Norway, the United Kingdom, Asia, Australia, Brazil, and the United States. The company was founded in 1965 and is based in Houston, Texas.
Top Cheap Companies To Invest In 2014: Liquidity Services Inc.(LQDT)
Liquidity Services, Inc. operates various online auction marketplaces for surplus and salvage assets in the United States. Its auction marketplaces include liquidation.com, which enables corporations and selected government agencies located in the United States to sell surplus and salvage consumer goods and capital assets; govliquidation.com that enables government agencies to sell surplus and scrap assets; govdeals.com, which enables local and state government entities, including city, county, and state agencies, as well as school boards and public utilities located in the United States to sell surplus and salvage assets. The company also operates secondipity.com that provides consumers a source of products and a socially conscious online experience through donating a portion of the proceeds of every sale to charity; and truckcenter.com, a marketplace for the sale of idle, surplus, and used fleet and transportation equipment. Its marketplaces provide professional buyers a ccess to supply of surplus and salvage assets presented with customer focused information, including digital images and other relevant product information along with services to complete the transaction; and enable corporate and government sellers to enhance their financial return on excess assets by providing liquid marketplaces and value-added services that integrate sales and marketing, logistics, and transaction settlement. The company offers approximately 500 products organized into various categories, including consumer electronics, general merchandise, apparel, scientific equipment, aerospace parts and equipment, technology hardware, energy equipment, industrial capital assets, fleet and transportation equipment, and specialty equipment. Liquidity Services, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.
5 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Invest In 2014: Wintrust Financial Corporation(WTFC)
Wintrust Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in community banking, specialty finance, and wealth management operations. Its Community Banking segment offers banking and financial services primarily to individuals, small to mid-sized businesses, local governmental units, and institutional customers. This segment?s products and services include deposit products, such as demand, negotiable order of withdrawal, money market, savings, and time deposit accounts; home equity, home mortgage, consumer, real estate, and commercial loans; safe deposit facilities; automated teller machines (ATMs); and Internet banking services. The company?s Specialty Finance segment offers financing for the payment of commercial insurance premiums to businesses and individuals; short-term accounts receivable financing; and out-sourced administrative services, including data processing of payrolls, billing, and cash management services to customers in the temporary staffing indu stry, as well as engages in the origination and purchase of residential mortgages for sale into the secondary market and provides the document preparation and other loan closing services to a network of mortgage brokers. This segment markets its products primarily through insurance agents and brokers. Its Wealth Management segment provides trust and investment services, asset management, and securities brokerage services, which are marketed primarily under the Wayne Hummer name. As of December 31, 2009, the company operated through 78 banking facilities, as well as owned 123 ATMs. Wintrust Financial Corporation was founded in 1992 and is based in Lake Forest, Illinois.
5 Best Clean Energy Stocks To Invest In 2014: Electronics for Imaging Inc.(EFII)
Electronics For Imaging, Inc. provides color digital print controllers, digital inkjet printers, and business process automation solutions. The company?s Fiery products consist of stand-alone print controllers and servers connected to digital copiers and other peripheral devices; embedded and design-licensed solutions used in digital copiers and multi-functional devices; optional software integrated into controller solutions that include Fiery Central and MicroPress; Entrac, a self-service and payment solution; PrintMe, a mobile printing application; and stand-alone software-based solutions, such as proofing and scanning solutions, including ColorProof XF, Fiery XF, ColorProof eXpress, and Xflow. It also offers industrial inkjet products, including VUTEk super-wide format digital industrial inkjet printers and inks used by billboard graphics printers, commercial photo labs, sign shops, graphic screen printers, specialty commercial printers, and digital graphics providers; Rastek hybrid and flatbed entry level production UV wide format inkjet printers; and Jetrion label and packaging digital inkjet printers, integration solutions, and specialty digital UV inks for primary and secondary label applications, and industrial label or flexible packaging markets. In addition, the company provides advanced professional print software products consisting of print production workflow and management information software, including Monarch, PSI, Logic, PrintSmith, and PrintFlow; Pace, a cloud-based business process automation software; and cloud-based order entry and order management systems, which comprise Digital StoreFront, PrinterSite, and PrintSmith Site. Electronics For Imaging, Inc. offers its products through sales force and distribution arrangements primarily in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Japan. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Kathy Kristof]
Headquarters: Foster City, Cal.
52-Week High: $18.28
52-Week Low: $12.81
Annual Sales: $591.6 mill.
Projected Earnings Growth: 13% annually over the next five years
Electronics for Imaging is a 25-year-old company that makes controllers for color printers, as well as printing software. Although not a household name, the company has many things going for it.
It sports a record of double-digit growth in both sales and earnings. For the first half of the year, the company reported a 40% rise in earnings. And sales, up 15% in the first half, are likely to keep rising at a high single-digit pace for the foreseeable future, says John Barr, manager of the Needham Aggressive Growth Fund.
Also, the company is about to reap a windfall from the sale of its headquarters building to Gilead Sciences. The $180 million deal is set to be completed in October.
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