Reading between the lines of company guidance can reveal a great deal, explains Simon Shields, Principal at Monash Investors. “Ardent Leisure’s Main Event business in the United States provides family entertainment centres with bowling, rock climbing, etc. Ardent bought this business when there were only five centres in Texas and it was rolling out just one or two a year.” In its guidance, Management was non-committal around whether the roll out would accelerate, stating there was more work to be done and the board hadn’t made a decision. “As it turned out, they hit the accelerator, a number of times, and now they’re looking at a target of 200 stores in the United States.” In the video below, Simon Shields explains how to read between the lines and decipher the real meaning within company guidance.