About Greg Mayes

An experienced finance and training professional and Co-Founder of Capital City Training Ltd, Greg has a demonstrated history of working in the financial services sector and has a passion for sharing his knowledge and skills throughout the financial services sector. He has been partnering financial and corporate clients in designing and delivering applied financial programs that make an impact on business outcomes. Greg is skilled in accounting & financial analysis, derivatives and risk management, financial modelling, business valuation and corporate finance and has worked with the worlds leading financial institutions. A strong business development professional and a qualified accountant (ICAEW member), CFA Charterholder and Associate Member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers in the UK (ACT).

Internal Rate of Return (IRR): Formulas, Examples and Implications

Internal Rate of Return (IRR): Formulas, Examples and Implications The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) can be viewed as the rate of return implicit within a set of cashflows. It could be interpreted as a sort of compound average growth rate (CAGR) – because it essentially is, but the cash flows are periodic

By |2024-07-17T12:11:21+00:00October 17th, 2023|Valuation|Comments Off on Internal Rate of Return (IRR): Formulas, Examples and Implications

Payback Period Explained: Definitions, Formulas and Examples 

Payback period is a fundamental investment appraisal technique in corporate financial management. It is a measure of how long it takes for a company to recover its initial investment in a project. It is one of the simplest capital budgeting techniques and, for this reason, is commonly used to evaluate and compare capital projects.  

By |2023-10-19T09:47:46+00:00October 17th, 2023|Investment Banking and Corporate Finance|Comments Off on Payback Period Explained: Definitions, Formulas and Examples 

The LDI Liquidity Crunch

LDI nuts and bolts It’s hard to have escaped all the recent noise in the media about the UK’s mini budget (ironically with not-so-mini consequences!) and the repercussions through financial markets.  And one of those headline consequences was pension funds being plunged into liquidity crunches due totheir LDI strategies. Again, ironically, the funds hit

By |2023-10-05T17:02:05+00:00December 1st, 2022|Financial Markets|Comments Off on The LDI Liquidity Crunch

Airlines have been hedge-trimming, but where are they now?

It’s been a round ride for airline operators over the last 3 years. Just when you think things are re-stabilising after COVID then the energy ‘crisis’ hits the fan and fuel costs increase 3 fold!  But the operators have been hedging, right? And if you’re hedging then you’re eliminating risk, right? If only life

By |2023-10-05T16:56:56+00:00September 8th, 2022|Risk Management & Derivatives|Comments Off on Airlines have been hedge-trimming, but where are they now?

Know your Numbers! – Modelling PPE and Capex

Let me start by saying that in financial analysis, valuation and modelling there is no substitute for knowing your numbers! This is no doubt the case when it comes to looking at PPE. PPE is one of the core elements of any financial analysis.  That link between investing in the business and growth in

By |2023-12-21T12:34:39+00:00May 17th, 2022|Financial Modeling|Comments Off on Know your Numbers! – Modelling PPE and Capex

Portfolio Optimisation in Excel

Portfolio Optimisation in Excel If you would like a copy of the Excel spreadsheet containing the data and analysis below, feel free to contact Greg: Greg.m@capitalcitytraining.com It was in the summer that I blogged about my diversified portfolio – noting how my ‘random weighting’ might be as good as anything scientifically optimised, given that

By |2023-12-21T12:35:10+00:00December 9th, 2021|Excel|Comments Off on Portfolio Optimisation in Excel

Picking the Perfect Portfolio Post-Pandemic – Part 2

I wrote the first part of this blog around 8 weeks ago and left you with some food for thought.  Go back and have another quick 5-minute read if you like, but in essence I showed that a (rather spuriously) diversified portfolio that had performed very well for 35 years (1975 to 2010) had

By |2023-12-21T12:35:30+00:00August 5th, 2021|Investing|Comments Off on Picking the Perfect Portfolio Post-Pandemic – Part 2

Picking the Perfect Portfolio Post-Pandemic – Part 1

Well, of course, there is no perfect portfolio post-pandemic, but I wanted a bit of alliteration so there it is. The closest we can get to perfection is the optimised portfolio. But optimisation is all about finding the best balance of risk and return for a portfolio of assets – and risk lies in

By |2023-10-05T17:03:31+00:00April 8th, 2021|Investing|Comments Off on Picking the Perfect Portfolio Post-Pandemic – Part 1

How to cook up a storm and bankrupt a hedge fund

From the lockdown baking book of finance… Forget the lockdown sourdough baking challenge that has trended over the last year, we have seen in action this last week how to cook up the perfect storm and nearly bankrupt a hedge fund!  For the home-bakers of finance out there who want some clarity on the

By |2023-10-05T17:04:23+00:00February 4th, 2021|Investing|Comments Off on How to cook up a storm and bankrupt a hedge fund
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