Mundy's Moments: Hold or fold?

Better to heed red flags than to be caught out by them

Many years ago, I played cricket with an old boy who had a batting technique that was less-than-pleasing on the eye.

The young guns in the team ridiculed Alan, whose riposte was unfailingly consistent: "Look in the scorebook." He was right. While he scratched around, playing several shots unlikely to be granted inclusion in the MCC coaching manual, his system worked, and year after year he outscored most of his more elegant teammates. I was thinking of Alan as I read Tim Steer's new book, The Signs Were There - The clues for investors that a company is heading for a fall. Steer walks the reader through 22 companies that unwound at pace and illustrates how a reasonably quick study of the report and a...