DAVID COOMBS
HEAD OF MULTI-ASSET INVESTMENTS
RATHBONES
Score prediction: WALES 2 – DENMARK 1
INVESTMENT INSIGHT:
Silicon Valleys
Did you know the Welsh word for silicon is… silicon? This is excellent news as South Wales has lots of valleys, so bringing tech to the area makes total sense. The Rhondda and Santa Clara valleys could be twinned.
This is not as fanciful as it seems. The UK government announced last year* that it plans to create a new tech hub in Cardiff through its new body, Tech Nation. Data released towards the end of last year shows over 21% of the Cardiff workforce is employed in digital tech roles. Facilities like the Tramshed Tech, Welsh Ice, Tech Hub and Tech Marina co-working spaces are helping create a community of tech start-ups** .
The industry is supported by local educational institutions such as Cardiff University’s National Software Academy and the Cardiff School of Technologies, which opened in 2018. And more good news, the average salary in Wales’ tech sector is £42,000, almost £10,000 more than the average across the UK***.
This summer will see a major new project funded by UK government called CSconnected, in collaboration with Cardiff and Swansea Universities, whereby local manufacturing companies will be looking to deliver major advances in areas such as 5G, autonomous vehicles, communications and medical devices.
But it’s not just the start-ups. Cisco, for example, has recently formed a partnership with the University of South Wales to set up an educational initiative to train up cyber security professionals.
Of course, this is all still relatively nascent, but there’s every chance given the existing infrastructure, concentration of skills and financial support from both Westminster and the National Assembly, we will see Welsh tech companies listed over the next decade.
That is, of course, unless private equity gets there first….
*techdragon.wales/uk-government
**credas.co.uk
***News from Wales.co.uk June 2021
JOHNNY MADSEN
CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
FORMUE- & INVESTERINGSPLEJE
Score prediction: WALES 0 – DENMARK 1
INVESTMENT INSIGHT:
A well-known Danish brewing company has a slogan “probably the best beer in the world”.
The Danish mortgage system has a reputation of being “probably the best mortgage system in the world”.
Danish mortgage bonds have attracted investors from all over the world, and the bonds often have the best credit score (AAA) from the world’s leading rating agencies.
Danish mortgage bonds have a history that goes back over 200 years, and they are traded on the stock exchange.
The market for the Danish mortgage bonds is considered to be one of the biggest and most liquid markets for mortgage bonds in the world. This is remarkable when we consider that Denmark only has six million inhabitants. This shows that Denmark has skills, that can compete quite well internationally.
Maybe this can have a spill-over effect to football, so we soon can add another saying “probably the best soccer team in Europe”.
