8/ More such cases will follow, with likely areas of change to include i) capital allocation, ii) corporate action (M&A), iii) investor communication, iv) removing blockers to change, v) greater awareness of global best practices.
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6/ The UK, meanwhile, needs an evolution, not a revolution. What's still missing includes i) buybacks becoming a proper tool, ii) more aggressive and better-structured executive incentivisation, iii) older boards adopting global best practices in governance.
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5/ Governance and management practices change slowly and often need an external push. Japan shows this well: years of activist investor pressure eventually led to record levels of share buybacks β a key driver behind the recent revival of the Japanese equity market.
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AutoZone stock chart
4/ Earnings per share are up 21x, and the share price has increased 42x. Had AutoZone been UK-listed, the long-term outcome for shareholders would almost certainly have been very different; a large portion of the company's free cash flow would likely have gone toward dividends.
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3/ While seen as a fairly boring company, AutoZone has long benefited from steady cash flow. Management opted to use that cash to buy back stock; since 2005, an average 120% of the firm's annual income went toward buybacks β totalling 80% (!) of the stock outstanding in 2005.
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2/ It's a vicious circle. Parts of the UK equity market are effectively caught in a slow, de facto liquidation. And yet, it is in such environments that exceptional long-term investment opportunities tend to emerge β as the US has shown before. Take AutoZone, for example.
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1/ Many UK companies still prioritise dividends when buying back stock would often be far more effective. This is partly due to the ongoing outflow of money from UK active fund managers; dividends help them manage outflows while keeping the remainder of their business afloat.
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42x with a boring business β could it happen again?
It is hard to imagine a more boring business than AutoZone, the US retailer of automotive parts and accessories.
Yet since 2005, the firm's share price is up 42x.
How did this happen, and does the UK hide similar opportunities?
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8/ Seeing a major investment bank examine Guyana in such detail is a clear sign of the theme's transition from frontier curiosity to mainstream investment narrative. Guyana is no longer obscure β but it is still early in its economic and investment cycle.
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7/ A comparable opportunity exists via Chevron, which holds a 30% interest in the Stabroek field. While smaller than ExxonMobil's stake, the proportional impact on Chevron's future cash flows is similarly meaningful.
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UBS estimates for ExxonMobil; source: UBS, 3 November 2025
6/ As the UBS report put it, ExxonMobil may even increase its Guyana targets. The company's fundamentals remain compelling to many observers β particularly given the scale of its operations and its well-known political backing.
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5/ During Q3/2025, average production reached 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), rising to 900,000 bpd by November 2025. By 2030, ExxonMobil aims to produce 1.7m bpd from Guyana alone β nearly 14% of its total oil output and almost 28% of its international production.
30.01.2026 14:27 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
ExxonMobil stock chart
Stabroek oil field
4/ On 21 January 2026, UBS published "Guyana Deep Dive", focusing particularly on ExxonMobil's growth plans in the country. With a 45% stake in the Stabroek Block, the company is the largest stakeholder in Guyana's oil reserves.
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3/ The oil story has followed a similar trajectory, albeit on a larger scale. ExxonMobil was trading at USD 120 just before the events on 3 January 2026, and has since rallied to USD 141. Is the opportunity already exhausted, or does further upside remain?
30.01.2026 14:27 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
Omai Gold Mines stock chart
2/ Many foreign-listed firms only make a small portion of revenue from Guyana or suffer from limited liquidity. Two exceptions stood out: ExxonMobil and Omai Gold Mines. Already a beneficiary of the rising gold price, the latter got another boost after Maduro's arrest.
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"How the Seizure of Maduro Secured Guyana's Oil Boom"; source: OilPrice.com, 27 January 2026
1/ While Guyana had begun to gain strategic importance β as a result of discovering gargantuan oil reserves β development of these reserves was constrained for years by Venezuela's claim over the Essequibo region, an area with a disproportionate share of Guyana's natural wealth.
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Map of Guyana and surrounding countries
Guyana β back on the map following Maduro's arrest
Maduro's seizure by the US military removed Venezuela's invasion threat to Guyana.
For investors, the bigger story is rapid economic momentum β making Guyana a timely investment destination to revisit.
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7/ A comparable opportunity exists via Chevron, which holds a 30% interest in the Stabroek field. While smaller than ExxonMobil's stake, the proportional impact on Chevron's future cash flows is similarly meaningful.
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UBS estimates for ExxonMobil; source: UBS, 3 November 2025
6/ As the UBS report put it, ExxonMobil may even increase its Guyana targets. The company's fundamentals remain compelling to many observers β particularly given the scale of its operations and its well-known political backing.
30.01.2026 13:57 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
5/ During Q3/2025, average production reached 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), rising to 900,000 bpd by November 2025. By 2030, ExxonMobil aims to produce 1.7m bpd from Guyana alone β nearly 14% of its total oil output and almost 28% of its international production.
30.01.2026 13:57 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
ExxonMobil stock chart
Stabroek oil field
4/ On 21 January 2026, UBS published "Guyana Deep Dive", focusing particularly on ExxonMobil's growth plans in the country. With a 45% stake in the Stabroek Block, the company is the largest stakeholder in Guyana's oil reserves.
30.01.2026 13:57 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
3/ The oil story has followed a similar trajectory, albeit on a larger scale. ExxonMobil was trading at USD 120 just before the events on 3 January 2026, and has since rallied to USD 141. Is the opportunity already exhausted, or does further upside remain?
30.01.2026 13:57 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
Omai Gold Mines stock chart
2/ Many foreign-listed firms only make a small portion of revenue from Guyana or suffer from limited liquidity. Two exceptions stood out: ExxonMobil and Omai Gold Mines. Already a beneficiary of the rising gold price, the latter got another boost after Maduro's arrest.
30.01.2026 13:57 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0