People: Against the herd

Serial entrepreneur and founder of private equity firm Oakley Capital, Peter Dubens is bearish about ‘Great Britain Plc’, but bullish about financial services. He argues that ‘even though the recession itself might technically end, the ramifications will last much longer’.

‘It is impossible to forecast a possible end to the recession, and it will take a long time to unwind the historic overspending and the difficult position the economy is in.’ On the decline in British manufacturing, Duben comments, ‘For some time, the whole of the West has been obsessed with moving manufacturing offshore.’

Now, he argues the UK needs to focus on the ‘new economy’, identified as technology and financial services. He quips that Oakley invests in financial services ‘because everyone else hates it’.

Dubens supports AIM, commenting, ‘I have personally always enjoyed being on the market, as a director of a number of AIM companies on the exchange since 2001. I think it is very important and I hope there is renewed interest in it.’ 

However, ‘too many companies have gone public that probably should not have’. That, he suggests, is why a number of them have been struggling of late.