Hidden Gems Investing

Hidden Gems Investing

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Hidden Gems Investing
Hidden Gems Investing
Special Report: Judges Scientific (JDG.L)

Special Report: Judges Scientific (JDG.L)

Serial acquirer with 25% p.a. returns for 20 years

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Chris Waller
Jul 09, 2025
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Hidden Gems Investing
Hidden Gems Investing
Special Report: Judges Scientific (JDG.L)
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Situation Overview

Judges Scientific is a serial acquirer that has delivered 25% p.a. shareholder returns over the last 20 years, and we think that can continue. The company buys small scientific instrument businesses in the UK that are leaders in attractive niches, face little competition, and have significant pricing power. Organic EBIT growth has averaged 9% over 20 years.

Founders sell to Judges for just 4.8x EBIT on average because the company behaves with integrity and takes a hands-off approach post-acquisition with no cost cuts, synergies, or intervention in how the business is run. This and Judges' discipline on paying low multiples is why it has generated 22% p.a. returns on incremental capital deployed by our estimates.

Management state in every earnings call that "shareholder value is the purpose of our existence". Founder & CEO David Cicurel owns over £50mm in stock and options worth around 200x his base salary. Most other members of management are greatly incentivized by the stock.

Despite this track record of success there is limited buy-side coverage of Judges, particularly among institutional investors.

Key Insights

  1. Judges does not integrate acquired businesses. Instead, the company supports growth through monthly reporting, helping with leadership transitions, and providing guidance. Many of the businesses are sold by retiring founders and we believe would not have grown organically at 9% without support from Judges. (see p.15-18)

  2. We believe that Judges has a long runway to continue making acquisitions, with well over 1,000 companies with revenues of £1-50mm in its target sectors. (see p.19-20)

  3. We see the biggest risk as the potential retirement of CEO David Cicurel, who is 76. However, Judges has an excellent record managing leadership transitions at acquired businesses and we believe is well placed. Newer executives Tim Prestidge and Ian Wilcock both have strong technical knowledge that will help build trust with selling founders, experience running businesses of a similar size to Judges, and will have had years at Judges to be ingrained in the culture and prepared for the CEO role. (see p.21-30)


Research Methods

In addition to utilizing secondary sources such as company filings and transcripts, the information in this report was gathered by speaking with management and primary sources. This included long-form discussions with:

  • 9 former members of senior management at companies Judges has acquired

  • 7 other relevant sources

We spoke with some sources more than once. Information that could reveal the identity of the sources above are redacted from this report unless sources gave their permission. While Hidden Gems Investing gained many insights from these conversations, no information that was both material and non-public was shared.


We think you will enjoy this 35 page writeup more in a pdf format. Click “Download” below:

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