Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th July 2026
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2026 4:26 am
Morning all.
This is why I don't trust Burnham to actually do anything.
Remember what Sky wrote when this started, something like --
So what happened to 3i ?Britain has built a state investment bank before. The Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation was set up in 1945, capitalised by the Bank of England and the clearing banks, to provide long term capital to firms the City would not touch. It backed thousands of businesses profitably for four decades. Then it was floated in 1994 as 3i and promptly stopped doing the thing it was created to do. Germany kept its equivalent. KfW, founded 1948, still quietly funds Mittelstand engineering with a balance sheet bigger than most British banks. The obstacle to reindustrialisation is not the bond markets. It is our habit of selling the tools before the job is finished.
Aldi and Lidl do the same sort of thing, occasional quality stuff at magic prices, but Action leaves most of the groceries to the others .3i Group does not sound like the most exciting company in the world. It is an investment company. It owns private businesses. It invests in infrastructure. It has been around in one form or another since 1945.
Not exactly the sort of thing that makes people jump out of bed in the morning.
But then you look under the bonnet and find the real story: Action.
Action is the European discount retailer that has become the engine of 3i’s success. Think of it as a mix between B&M, Poundland and a treasure hunt. Customers go in for cheap everyday items, but because much of the range changes every week, they often come out with things they never expected to buy.
That is a very powerful retail trick.
People like value. But people also like surprises. Action combines both.
For 3i, Action has become the kind of investment every long-term investor dreams of. It sells simple products at low prices, opens hundreds of new stores each year, and its new stores often pay back their initial investment very quickly. In plain English, it does not need huge amounts of money to keep growing. That is what makes the model so attractive.
Unlike many asset managers that mainly earn fees, 3i uses permanent capital. That means it can take a patient, owner-like view. It does not have to panic because markets are noisy. It can sit with a good business and let time do the heavy lifting.
That is the magic of compounding.
and Mitch hasn't been seen for nearly a month --refitman wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2026 7:47 am So, one hateful Republican senator has died, but it's not the one you were thinking of