Jean Bennett and Albert Maguire are married. They are also the reason several hundred people who were going blind have retained their sight.
Their lab at the University of Pennsylvania spent the better part of the 1990s working out the technical details of a gene therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis — a genetic disease that strips away retinal function in childhood, usually ending in total blindness before adulthood. They tried it first in dogs. A group of Swedish Briard puppies, born with the same genetic defect, had their sight restored. Bennett and Maguire adopted them.
In 2007, Maguire administered the first injection into a human patient — a 26-year-old woman at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. A decade later, in December 2017, the FDA approved Luxturna: the first gene replacement therapy for an inherited disease in US history. At the April 2026 Breakthrough Prize ceremony in Los Angeles, Bennett, Maguire, and their longtime collaborator Katherine High shared the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for that work. Some of the patients who received Luxturna have since qualified for driver’s licenses.
What the Disease Does, and What the Therapy Fixes
Leber congenital amaurosis is caused by a mutation in the RPE65 gene, which produces a protein the retina needs to complete its visual cycle — the process by which light hitting the eye becomes an electrical signal sent to the brain. Without functional RPE65, that cycle breaks. The retina can still receive light but cannot convert it into anything the brain can read. Patients lose light sensitivity progressively, typically experiencing severe vision loss before 18 and total blindness shortly after.
The therapy developed by Bennett, High, and Maguire uses a modified adeno-associated virus — a delivery vehicle that can carry genetic material without triggering immune rejection — to insert a working copy of the RPE65 gene directly into retinal cells via subretinal injection. One treatment per eye, administered days apart. The corrected cells begin producing the protein, the visual cycle resumes, and patients who could previously see only in very bright light start perceiving details they had never been able to make out.
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Patients in early clinical trials described seeing snow for the first time. One described seeing the moon. Another saw stars. The disease affects an estimated 1,000 to 3,000 people in the United States — a population small enough that commercial development alone would never have funded the three decades of research required to reach them. Katherine High, who served as the founding director of the Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at CHOP and is now CEO of RhyGaze, a gene therapy company based in Philadelphia and Switzerland, helped bridge the gap between academic science and the regulatory pathway that eventually made Luxturna approvable. Bennett, 71, and Maguire, 66, remain emeritus professors at Penn. The therapy they built together has been approved not just by the FDA but by regulators in Europe, where Novartis licensed it for distribution outside the US.
Why Forty Years Is the Point
Bennett joined Penn’s faculty in 1992. The first human clinical trial ran in 2007. FDA approval came in 2017. The prize arrived in 2026. That timeline — three-plus decades from academic lab to pharmacy — accurately describes how foundational biomedical research moves when it is not being chased by a commercial deadline.
This is the argument Yuri Milner has made consistently in designing the Breakthrough Prize. Most private funding in science rewards proximity to an application. Grants chase outcomes. Venture capital chases returns on timescales measured in years, not decades. The researchers who spend thirty years on a disease affecting fewer than 3,000 Americans are working outside the incentive structures that normally sustain scientific careers. They are building a cathedral, in Milner’s phrase from the 2026 prize announcement — “on foundations laid down by the giants who came before them..”
The Prize was designed to recognize exactly that kind of researcher: contributors whose work is foundational rather than immediately monetizable, operating on timescales that most institutional funding structures struggle to sustain. Milner’s own training as a theoretical physicist shaped the conviction directly. He spent years in a discipline where the gap between discovery and application is routinely measured in generations — where the mathematics developed in one century becomes the engineering of the next.
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What the Prize adds to recognition is visibility. A $3 million award, handed out on a Hollywood stage in front of an audience that includes the CEOs of Nvidia and OpenAI alongside film and music performers, reaches a different public than a journal publication or a tenure committee commendation. That visibility matters because public understanding of what science produces determines, over time, what science gets funded.
The 2026 Life Sciences Class, Taken Together
Bennett, High, and Maguire shared the ceremony with two other Life Sciences prizes that, read alongside theirs, trace a consistent pattern in how Milner and the Breakthrough Prize Foundation think about which research deserves recognition.
Stuart Orkin and Swee Lay Thein received a prize for decades of work that eventually led to gene-editing treatments for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia — two inherited blood disorders that together affect millions of people globally, with the heaviest burden falling on populations in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Mediterranean. Thein identified a genetic region linked to elevated fetal hemoglobin production in adults, a trait that naturally softens the severity of both conditions. Orkin identified BCL11A, the specific gene that suppresses fetal hemoglobin after birth. Their combined findings gave researchers a precise molecular target: silence BCL11A, allow protective fetal hemoglobin to persist, and the disease becomes dramatically more manageable. Gene-editing therapies built on exactly that logic have since reached patients and received regulatory approval.
Rosa Rademakers and Bryan Traynor were recognized for identifying the C9orf72 gene mutation as the most common known genetic cause of both ALS and frontotemporal dementia — two conditions that had long resisted genetic explanation and had largely been treated as separate diseases. The discovery that a single mutation could drive both redirected an entire research field toward a testable, actionable target. Clinical trials targeting C9orf72 are now running.
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Each of the three prizes honored research that required patience measured in decades, produced results that could not have been commercially predicted at the outset, and has since moved from academic publication toward patients who had no other options.
What the Eureka Manifesto Said About Biology
In his Eureka Manifesto, Milner identified life sciences as one of the deepest mismatches in all of science — research that is profound in its importance to human welfare and chronically underfunded relative to that importance. The book makes the case that directing serious capital toward fundamental biological research is one of the highest-return investments a civilization can make, precisely because the downstream benefits cannot be predicted from the research itself at the time it is being done.
Luxturna illustrates this directly. Bennett’s early work in the 1990s was about understanding how a specific protein interacts with the retina. It was a basic science question about a poorly understood mechanism. It became a therapy because the science pointed there, because the researchers followed it long enough, and because the clinical and regulatory infrastructure existed to translate the findings. The Giving Pledge commitment Milner made alongside his wife Julia in 2012 formalized this philosophy at the level of personal wealth: invest in scientists, not just projects. Trust the researchers building foundations before the applications are visible.
That framing has practical consequences for how the Prize is structured. It does not restrict its recognition to research that has already produced a commercial product. It recognizes the discovery, the mechanism, the molecular target — the work that makes products possible years or decades later. The 2026 Life Sciences class is evidence that this distinction is not semantic. All three prize-winning programs produced fundamental knowledge long before they produced clinical outcomes.
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The Cathedral and the Patient
At the 2026 ceremony, Anne Hathaway and Alex Honnold presented a video about Baby KJ — KJ Muldoon, a child born with carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 deficiency, a rare metabolic disease in which the liver cannot process ammonia properly. Without treatment, the ammonia buildup becomes toxic to the brain. KJ was only days old when he was diagnosed and spent his first ten months at the hospital. His doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia developed a personalized CRISPR-based gene therapy using base-editing techniques pioneered by previous Breakthrough Prize laureate David Liu — a one-time treatment designed specifically around KJ’s individual mutation. He has since been walking, talking, and meeting developmental milestones that were once uncertain.
The connection between KJ’s treatment and the research honored at the same ceremony runs through the logic of the entire evening. Liu’s base-editing work, recognized by a prior Breakthrough Prize, made KJ’s therapy possible. Bennett, High, and Maguire’s gene therapy work, recognized this year, established the delivery mechanisms and regulatory precedents that personalized gene therapies now build on. The cathedral metaphor Milner used in his statement holds: each laureate’s work is a section of a structure that no single researcher could complete alone, and whose full dimensions no single generation could see.
Milner has described the Prize as a public claim about value — about what a society decides deserves recognition and therefore resources. A researcher who spends forty years on a disease affecting a few thousand people, without a commercial path in sight, is making a bet that the science matters more than the return. The Prize says that bet was right. Baby KJ, walking and talking at a Hollywood ceremony that his existence helped explain, is what it looks like when that bet pays out.
Liontown managing director Tony Ottaviano says he’s open to growing his company’s lithium portfolio and would look at Rio Tinto’s Mt Cattlin mine if approached.
Gina Rinehart-backed Liontown ended last financial year with more than $560 million in the bank, riding the wave of positivity in the lithium market to generate $137 million over three months.
The company is planning towards an expansion call at its sole Kathleen Valley mine this quarter and hopes to achieve a mining run rate of 2.8 million tonnes per annum by the end of next year.
But with the market for the battery metal resurgent compared with 12 months ago, Mr Ottaviano said the company was looking at different avenues to growth.
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“We’re good at exploration, and that’s why we’ve instigated, now that we’ve got a little bit of money, our growth options from exploration,” he said.
“The second area is shovel-ready operations – these are things that are permitted, ready to go, should we build? But that’s a three-to-five-year journey.
“And then there’s … operating assets, but they take a lot more risk. They take a lot more due diligence and a lot more understanding.
“I think a portfolio that has a mixture of all that is what you should be preparing for, and that’s what we’re doing.”
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Mr Ottaviano said Liontown would “probably stay within brief” when it came to its commodity focus, with lithium the most likely target.
Questioned specifically about the mine, he said Rio Tinto’s mothballed Mt Cattlin asset near Ravensthorpe could come under consideration if an approach was made.
“If they approach us, we’ll look at it,” Mr Ottaviano said.
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“But it’ll depend on the quality of the resource, and where it sits on the cost curve.”
Mt Cattlin was closed in July 2025, having come onto the books of Rio via its acquisition of $10.7 billion Arcadium Lithium acquisition months earlier.
Rio boss Simon Trott flagged the potential for the global mining giant to sell the asset last week, when he declared it was not a focus for the company’s lithium division.
Liontown’s changing fortunes have been propelled by exposure to spodumene markets, which have evolved in recent years and allowed the company to access more dynamic pricing for its spodumene product.
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The miner initially sold its product under offtake contracts signed in 2022 to help it secure funding as it developed Kathleen Valley, but Mr Ottaviano said they were being slowly unwound.
“Two thirds of our book by the end of the calendar year will be on the spodumene index,” he said.
Liontown raised $316 million in August last year, in a move to secure its balance sheet amid a challenging macroeconomic environment.
Liontown shares closed 2.5 per cent higher at 99c today.
Shares of Tata Motors, which now houses the company’s commercial vehicle business, jumped more than 4% to Rs 454 on the BSE on Monday after reporting a 37% year-on-year rise in total commercial vehicle sales to 39,641 units in July.
Domestic sales increased 28% to 33,876 units from 26,432 a year earlier, while international volumes more than doubled, rising 128% to 5,765 units.
Nomura highlighted that Tata Motors’ management lowered its LCV industry outlook to flat in 2026 while MHCV demand remained unchanged at 5% year-on-year (YoY). Bus demand is likely to be slightly lower in the EU and South America.
The company maintained its top position in the European bus market and second overall with more than 25% market share. It expects a gradual recovery in profitability in the second half of the calendar year 2026, impacted by weak LCV demand and macro uncertainties offset by cost efficiency programs, Nomura noted.
The international brokerage believes that while weak LCV industry outlook remains a demand headwind, Iveco’s focus on cost efficiencies, low-cost sourcing advantages post TMCV integration, and new launches will support an earnings recovery over the next two years, which remains a key monitorable. Nomura has a ‘Neutral’ call for the shares of Tata Motor CV, with a target price of Rs 402 apiece. This implies a downside potential of nearly 8% from the stock’s previous closing price of Rs 436.95 apiece on BSE.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
Shares of food delivery and quick commerce major Swiggy fell 6% in two days despite the company reporting strong Q1 earnings. On Monday, the shares fell to the day’s low of Rs 277 on BSE.
In a filing with the exchange, the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 791 crore for the first quarter of FY27, marking nearly a 34% year-on-year decrease from the Rs 1,197 crore net loss reported in the year-ago period.
The company’s revenue from operations, meanwhile, increased more than 37% YoY to Rs 6,812 crore during the April-June quarter of FY27, from Rs 4,961 crore reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
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Instamart, the company’s quick commerce arm, also saw losses contract to Rs 651 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 797 crore in the year-ago period. Its revenue from operations meanwhile soared nearly 53% YoY to Rs 1,232 crore. Instamart’s GOV rose nearly 40% YoY to Rs 7,907 crore, while contribution margin improved 440 bps to 0.2%.
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“In a period where quick commerce competition has only intensified, we prioritised improving unit economics over fleeting headline growth. Our efforts over the last few quarters to reset our user base, economics and experience have together made the business much stronger and increased the staying power,” said Sriharsha Majety, founder and group CEO of Swiggy. Instamart’s contribution margin for the quarter stood at -0.2% of gross order value (GOV), a 4.4% improvement from a year earlier, while adjusted Ebitda losses narrowed to Rs 778 crore from Rs 896 crore a year ago.
What should investors do?
Motilal Oswal has maintained its Buy rating on Swiggy with a target price of Rs 350, implying an upside of around 18%. The brokerage largely retained its estimates, saying food delivery execution remains steady with expanding margins, while Instamart has largely addressed concerns around contribution margins. It believes the focus will now shift to sustaining GOV growth through higher monthly transacting users, better customer retention and monetisation, while moving closer to EBITDA profitability. Motilal continues to see long-term value in Swiggy’s food delivery franchise and brand, although it believes a clear path to quick commerce EBITDA profitability will be key for a meaningful re-rating.
Nuvama has maintained its Buy rating on Swiggy with a target price of Rs 444. The brokerage highlighted that management follows a conservative accounting approach, with no capitalization of employee costs or new-store ramp-up expenses and no payable securitization.
It noted that quarterly margins were impacted by seasonal cost pressures, including annual salary revisions, minimum wage hikes for dark store operations and higher delivery partner costs. Nuvama expects the profitability of the food delivery business to increasingly offset cash burn in the quick commerce segment over the coming quarters.
Domestic brokerage JM Financial turned more cautious, downgrading the stock to Sell from Reduce.
With a target price of Rs 250 per share, analysts forecast over 15% downside from current market levels. The contrarian view comes after a host of international and Indian brokerages issued bullish calls on the counter following the Q1 print.
JM Financial says Swiggy’s Q1FY27 results reinforce its view that meaningful profitability improvement in the Instamart business will require greater scale. The brokerage noted that after prioritising contribution margins over the past few quarters, the company has shifted its focus back to accelerating growth.
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It highlighted that Instamart’s contribution margin was only marginally above break-even in Q1 despite muted quarter-on-quarter NOV growth and expects the metric to remain in negative territory, between 0 and -100 basis points, over the next two quarters.
According to JM Financial, Swiggy has once again shifted its Instamart strategy from improving profitability to accelerating growth after nearly reaching contribution-level break-even. It says the management now aims to deliver at least double-digit sequential NOV growth in Q2FY27 while operating within a 0% to -1% contribution margin range, indicating that elevated investments will continue and adjusted EBITDA losses are likely to remain in the Rs 750-800 crore range in the near term.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
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PhD in Law & Economics with a dissertation on corporate wrongdoing, paired with an accounting background and a lifelong interest in markets.I write almost exclusively about undercovered small and mid-cap names, currently concentrated in fintech and consumer lending, where legal, regulatory, and governance risk routinely moves the stock more than anything on the sell-side’s model. Value, growth, secular trends, accounting shenanigans: if it fits that lens, I’m interested.
Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of ECPG either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
For the 2Q26 quarter ((ended June 30, 2026)), cumulative net returns improved 20%, lifting year-to-date returns to +19%, in both cases trailing the Russell 2000 and the iShares US MicroCap ETF (IWC) but well ahead of the iShares SmallCap EAFE (SCZ) ((ex-N. Am)) ETF. Returns were generated with little direct exposure to any of the themes du jour ((AI, hyperscalers, cyclical semis, etc)) that drives flows at passive funds. Since inception in November 2015 through quarter end, LCA has returned a cumulative 343% net of fees, or 15% CAGR, ahead of those indices. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Individual account returns may vary. ¹
Net returns
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Long Cast
R2000
IWC
SCZ
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2015 (2-mos)
14%
-5%
-5%
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1%
2016
15%
21%
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21%
3%
2017
36%
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15%
13%
33%
2018
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-8%
-11%
-13%
-18%
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2019
21%
25%
22%
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25%
2020
-3%
20%
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21%
12%
2021
42%
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15%
19%
10%
2022
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-12%
-20%
-22%
-21%
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2023
10%
17%
9%
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13%
2024
39%
12%
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14%
2%
2025
0%
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13%
22%
32%
1Q26
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0%
1%
1%
1%
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2Q26
20%
22%
26%
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6%
Cumulative
343%
191%
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196%
123%
CAGR
15%
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11%
11%
8%
LTM
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25%
41%
59%
17%
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YTD
19%
23%
27%
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8%
Long Cast was founded in 2015 on the principles of long-term and patient investing in well-researched small- and micro-cap companies. It was conceived as a “food truck version of a hedge fund”, a nod to its SMA structure, low overhead and Brooklyn base, backed by +12-years of institutional equity-research experience. It takes concentrated positions and aims for 15% annualized returns, operating as an alternative to passive investing, with more transparency than a fund and without using leverage.
Portfolio Update
In 2Q26, PDEX (PDEX), PESI (PESI) and MTRX (MTRX) were the largest contributors. There weren’t any significant decliners. We substantially added to NRC (NRC) and exited CCRN (CCRN), which was acquired, returning a solid after-tax IRR despite the unavoidable short-term treatment.
At quarter end the top five positions represented 62% of the portfolio. I am patiently putting available cash to work, recently adding to QRHC (QRHC), which has lapped negative revenue comps, and may benefit from stabilization in industrial manufacturing as well as new contracts announced earlier in the year.
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It is our goal and intention to own large percentages of fewer companies over time, but we start small, continue researching and adjust as warranted. One new small position is a chemical company in turnaround, that offers the virtues of sound management, a strong balance sheet and fully depreciated assets. I am weighing if it should be a larger position, but probably not at current prices.
Since 2023, management and the Board have been excellent strategic and financial stewards. Previously an undercapitalized mini conglomerate, non-core assets have been sold off and there’s over $40M of net cash on the balance sheet. The business is built around three chemical plants, each over 50-years old, in TN, VA and SC, that supplied the once abundant carpet and textile manufacturers in the area, and now produce lubricants, surfactants, coatings, and other mixed and reacted chemicals for a variety of end markets.
From this point forward, the opportunity is improving on low-capacity utilization and “sales people who waited for the phone to ring”. It’s a solvable problem, but it’s not an easy path. This business is all about manufacturing with quality and consistency. A former HB Foster plant engineer explained to me that the chief sales people in this area are the process engineers and the plant managers with demonstrated capabilities around scheduling, batching, minimizing turnarounds and safety. These are manufacturing culture type things and culture takes time to change.
Meanwhile, our CEO and CFO’s prior successful exit was in pool chemicals, ie branded bleach, which is to say, wholly driven by sales and marketing. I’m not sure if what’s needed here from this point forward overlaps with any of their prior experiences. And that leads to questions around the intentions of the Board, some of whom are long time shareholders and possibly looking for the next fool to buy these old assets an exit.
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I like a long and wide opportunity pathway, and this seems constrained and restricted. The underlying capacity puts a cap on revenues and the factories require regular maintenance and CAPEX. The industry operates in oversupply and peer group multiples are in the single digits. Meanwhile, to achieve our 15% hurdle rate at current prices would require multiple expansion into the double digits. Under certain conditions – higher-margin end-markets or faster growth – a premium multiple may be justified, but given the hill to climb, I think it pays to wait. I’ll continue to monitor it and continue to look for other ideas.
As I indicated in my mid-June email, I did a 15-minute set on the Vegas Strip by way of a “pitch session” at the Microcap Club / Planet Microcap conference, where I offered brief high-level thoughts on what makes stocks attractive, and then shared two stocks, PDEX and NRC that I think indeed are attractive.
The PDEX pitch offered an attempt to quantify the anticipated incremental benefits to operations if Zimmer (ZBH) succeeds with the mBos robot commercialization (a corrected version of the slide is below). The milestones, prices and margins are all derived from public filings and we assume four effectors per system sale, as an informed estimate.
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ATK procedures per year
800,000
implant cost (est)
$5,000
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US implant “gross revs”
$4B
Milestone
12/31/2028
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12/31/2029
12/31/2030
Hurdle: mBos “gross revs”
$156M
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$381M
$609M
implied procedure market share
4%
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10%
15%
assumed mBos procedures
31,200
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76,200
121,800
consumables @ $75 / procedure
$2.3
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$5.7
$9.1
GP @ 30% margins
$0.7
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$1.7
$2.7
incremental EPS impact
$0.16
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$0.40
$0.64
# of systems needed
156
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381
609
>> each system does 200 procedures / year
4 effectors / systems @ $15K each
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$9.4
$22.9
$36.5
>> $15K / effector x four per system sale
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GP @ 45% margins
$4.2
$10.3
$16.4
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>> margins are spelled out in contract
incremental EPS impact
$0.99
$2.41
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$3.85
net incremental EPS impact
$1.15
$2.81
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$4.50
Zimmer’s purchase of Monogram (MGRM) last year included “contingent valuation rights” (CVRs) that pay out $3.41 / share in each year from 2028 to 2030 that mBos gross revenues exceed certain hurdles. Based on these estimates, we calculated the number of systems needed to achieve those revenues, and it triangulates to a capital sale in the range of ~$1M per machine, in line with the cost of Stryker (SYK)’s Mako platform. Stryker sold 860 units, in its first three years so the forecast 609 units to trigger the final CVR seems achievable. And even if the timing is wrong or our estimates imprecise, as long as the direction is right – and Zimmer is putting significant resources behind the launch – once the system launches, PDEX could experience an exceptional transformation in operating cash flow that would justify a substantially higher corporate value. This is why it remains a top position.
On NRC, our newest investment, I discussed the company’s evolution from owner / operator to professionally led management team, and the expected benefits from putting a growth focused, incentivized and entrepreneurial executive suite behind this strong and recognizable brand, in a business with strong FCF generation and in a market where the two leading competitors just merged in a PE backed $6.5B deal.
Quantitative evidence that supports our optimism includes the recently announced largest contract in company history leading to the highest 12-mos backlog in history. Deferred revs are also growing and this typically leads sales. Furthermore, management indicated that the second year of the aforementioned contract is materially larger than the first, which infers that in one year’s time, 12-mos backlog could be even larger, and with capacity to do more. We continue to add opportunistically.
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Among our other large holdings, PESI recently preannounced 2Q26 earnings indicating continued weak profitability but strong backlog growth on expanding processing at Hanford. There is potential for significantly more waste volumes if a decision is made to grout ((embed in concrete)) up to 9M gallons of low-level tank waste by 2030. This recent GAO report illustrates how large that opportunity could be and how favorable the government is in pursuing it.
Two other large holdings, MTRX and RSSS (RSSS), are on June 30 fiscal years and won’t report earnings until late August or possibly September. Given their weighting, results may be impactful to the portfolio. I think in both the cases, cash earnings will prove better than market expectations, especially MTRX, which all but guided to record profitability.
In Conclusion: On AI, Entrepreneurship and Investing
In our 1Q26 letter, I discussed my perspective of AI as a tool that’s creating a wonderful environment for entrepreneurs. Evidence is emerging along those lines, with growth in business formation and in new sole proprietorships exceeding $10M in revenues. And while the media focuses on layoffs at tech companies, evidence suggests that it’s creating ample work elsewhere, and not just for electricians and hvac installers.
Meanwhile, in the investing world, an AI-focused fund called “Situational Awareness”, led by a former Open AI (OPENAI) employee, recently blew up over $40B in capital. The fund strategy was to buy AI-related companies and short the disrupted software businesses, and use significant leverage in the process. It was recently forced to sell off its entire portfolio at a discount to meet margin calls. It puzzles me how someone so smart can be so unaware of the risks associated with using leverage in investing. Prior to its demise, returns were reportedly up 270% ytd and had been up 1,000% since inception.
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It takes effort to resist the notion that we know how this is going to turn out. Our minds enjoy closure and sometimes even grope for conclusions, no matter how illogical, with a bias towards consensus.
Long Cast has experienced large drawdowns in the portfolio, and given our concentrated positioning, may well again in the future. But we operate under the premise that investing is a practice of patience and endurance, not a sprint. This is intended as a durable business that grows capital well into the future. In order to do that, we need to survive. We don’t use margin. We don’t seek out volatility. With rising rates, an expanding war and global constraints on a most a critical energy input, I’m comforted by our non-consensus portfolio.
As always, I remain committed to building a durable and sustainable business based on a repeatable investment process and intelligent capital allocation. I remain grateful to have clients ((by design)) aligned with my long term, small company centric and research-intensive focus. I welcome the continued interest from individuals and institutions as I patiently grow the business.
Sincerely / Avi
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References
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Jonah Hill has made clear he has little patience left for people who still see him as the awkward teenage version of himself from “Superbad,” pointing to years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu training as evidence he is done being defined by a role from nearly two decades ago.
The comments came during a taping of the “SmartLess” podcast, recorded earlier this year in Los Angeles, where Hill appeared alongside hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. Clips from the episode resurfaced widely online this week, reigniting conversation around Hill’s remarks about his physical transformation and his frustration with how audiences continue to perceive him nearly 20 years after “Superbad” made him and co-star Michael Cera household names.
Speaking on the podcast, Hill said he had grown tired of being reduced to the character of Seth from the 2007 comedy, telling the hosts he would “f— annihilate” anyone who continued to see him that way, and that he was not exaggerating. The comment drew immediate laughter from Bateman, Arnett and Hayes, though Hill did not walk back the remark, instead doubling down on the sentiment.
Hill’s confidence traces directly to his years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu training, a pursuit he first took up in late 2018 at age 35. He began training at Clockwork Jiu-Jitsu in New York City, where he reportedly trained four to five sessions per week to build his skills in the discipline. According to other reporting on his fitness journey, Hill has also trained under Josh Griffiths, a third-degree black belt who has competed at Abu Dhabi World Pro events and worked alongside top UFC fighters.
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Before delivering his more pointed warning to critics, Hill leaned into the humor of the moment, joking that his body had begged him not to fall so deeply in love with the sport, and that his wife regularly reminds him he is a comedian rather than a professional fighter. When Bateman jokingly suggested the two of them settle things physically, Hill claimed without hesitation that he could take on all three podcast hosts simultaneously, further building the bit before pivoting to his more serious message about the lingering “Superbad” comparisons.
This is not the first time Hill has spoken candidly about how public perception of his body has affected him over the years. He has previously discussed how comments about his weight impacted him significantly during his rise to fame in his late teens and early 20s, and has been open in past interviews about how those experiences shaped both his relationship with exercise and his broader sense of self-image throughout his career.
Now settled in San Diego with his wife and their two young sons, Hill appears to occupy a markedly different place in his life than the young actor first introduced to audiences through “Superbad” in 2007. His jiu-jitsu practice appears to function as more than a simple physical outlet, instead serving as a genuine source of personal confidence that stands in direct contrast to how strangers online continue to characterize him nearly two decades later.
Hill’s frustration with being permanently associated with a single early role reflects a broader pattern common among performers whose breakout parts came relatively early in their careers, particularly in comedic roles that lean on physical characteristics for humor. “Superbad,” directed by Greg Mottola and produced by Judd Apatow, became a defining touchstone of mid-2000s teen comedy, launching both Hill and Cera into leading roles across film and television in the years that followed.
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Since “Superbad,” Hill has built a considerably more varied career, earning two Academy Award nominations for best supporting actor, for “Moneyball” in 2012 and “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2014, while also moving behind the camera as a writer and director with projects including the documentary “Stutz” and the film “Mid90s.” That range stands in contrast to the persistent public shorthand that continues to reduce him to his breakout comedic role from nearly 20 years ago.
Whether anyone actually takes Hill up on his tongue-in-cheek challenge remains to be seen, but the resurfaced clip has clearly struck a chord with fans and commentators reacting online this week. The moment underscores how even beloved, culturally resonant comedic performances can leave behind lasting assumptions about an actor that don’t always keep pace with how much that person’s career, and life, has evolved in the years since.
Zuber Issa, CEO of EG On The Move.(Image: EG On The Move)
Blackburn millionaire Zuber Issa’s petrol forecourt and convenience retail group has completed the acquisition of 260 sites in France.
EG On The Move has says all legal, works council and regulatory market requirements have been met in the deal with EG Group, which plans to exit the French market. EG On The Move said the acquisition is an important part of strategic growth plans – and referred to France as a key European market.
The network of sites is said to be a strong platform for investment, including growth of the retail offer. EG On The Move has previously talked of its ambition to expand electric vehicle charging provision through its EV On The Move brand.
Zuber Issa, chief executive officer of EG On The Move, said: “We are delighted to complete the acquisition of these 260 sites. This is an important step in the continued growth of EG On The Move and reflects our confidence in the strength and long-term potential of the French market.
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“France represents a significant opportunity for EG On The Move, and we are committed to investing in the acquired network to enhance the customer offer and experience, support our colleagues and drive long-term sustainable growth. We look forward to working closely with our French team, whose expertise and dedication will be central to our success, and to supporting them in delivering positive outcomes for our customers, employees, partners and local communities.
“I would like to warmly welcome our new colleagues to EG On The Move, and I am excited about the opportunities we will create together as we build on the strong foundations already established across the network.”
The deal with EG Group follows EG On The Move’s acquisition of independent petrol forecourt operator MPK Garages Ltd in May. That move expanded EG On The Move’s footprint, particularly across the Midlands, bringing 27 petrol forecourt sites to the group.
EG On The Move now owns and operates more than 550 trading units across the UK, including 270 petrol forecourts and convenience stores, along with 220 branded foodservice concessions. More than 60 of its sites offer fast EV charging.
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