Welcome back to Monday Delights!

This is your Monday morning dose of inspiration. Each week, I’ll share five intriguing investment ideas that recently caught my attention. These ideas are meant to spark your research and help you kickstart the week ahead with fresh insights.

Because these ideas are the result of my first-level idea generation process, they require more in depth research. Therefore, the ideas will often be concise, with occasional references to valuable work from other practitioners that I encourage you to explore.

If you have something fascinating to share that could benefit me and the wider community, don’t hesitate to send it my way—I’d love to hear from you!

Vår Energi ASA

• Market Cap: NOK 117.9B
• EV: NOK 170.7B
• ROIC: 23.3%
• EV/EBIT: 4.1

Vår Eneri operates as an upstream oil and gas producer focused primarily on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Its business model is centered on exploring for, developing, and producing hydrocarbons from offshore fields, while generating cash flow through the sale of crude oil and natural gas into European energy markets. The company combines organic field development with acquisitions of producing assets in order to maintain reserve replacement and production growth. Vår Eneri also emphasizes operational efficiency and relatively low production costs, which allows it to distribute a substantial portion of free cash flow to shareholders through dividends. Its revenues are therefore heavily linked to commodity prices, production volumes, and the long-term economics of offshore energy infrastructure.

Vår appears to be an attractive opportunity for income-oriented investors. The company combines a conservative balance sheet with some of the lowest-cost reserves globally, with an estimated free cash flow break-even price of around USD 40 per barrel. Management also focuses on replenishing depleting reserves while taking relatively limited exploration risk. In addition, the company targets paying out 25–30% of operating cash flow as dividends. Based on current prices, the dividend yield is around 9%.

Ithaca Energy plc

• Market Cap: GBP 4.0B
• EV: 5.0B
• ROIC: 22.5%
• EV/EBIT: 7.3

Ithaca Energy is an independent oil and gas company focused on producing hydrocarbons from mature and newly developed assets in the UK Continental Shelf. Its business model relies on acquiring and consolidating producing offshore assets, improving operational efficiency, and extending the productive life of existing fields. The company generates revenue through the production and sale of oil and natural gas, while also pursuing acquisitions that can quickly add reserves and scale. Recent transactions with companies such as Eni have significantly expanded its production base and strengthened its position as a major North Sea operator. Ithaca seeks to maximize cash generation from existing infrastructure while balancing shareholder returns, field development investments, and selective growth opportunities.

Similar to Vår Energi, Ithaca focuses on operating a conservatively financed oil and gas business. Due to higher operating costs per barrel, USD ~20 compared to around USD 10 for Vår, its break-even prices are somewhat higher, though still below USD 50 per barrel. While the company’s shareholder distribution guidance is broadly similar to Vår’s, the current dividend yield is even higher at close to 10%.

Grupa Pracuj S.A.

• Market Cap: PLN 3.0B
• EV: PLN 3.0B
• ROIC: 45.8%
• P/E: 12.6

Grupa Pracuj operates a digital human resources and recruitment platform business. Its model is built around two complementary segments: online recruitment marketplaces and subscription-based HR software solutions. Through platforms such as Pracuj.pl and Robota.ua, the company connects employers with job candidates using a two-sided marketplace model in which more job postings attract more candidates, which in turn attracts additional employers. In parallel, Grupa Pracuj sells SaaS-based recruitment and HR management tools that help companies manage hiring, onboarding, and employee processes. Revenue comes from job advertisement packages, employer branding services, and recurring subscription fees for HR software products. The company benefits from network effects, recurring software revenue, and long-term demand for digital recruitment solutions across Central and Eastern Europe.

Poland has been one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies over the past decades. If that trend continues, owning the country’s dominant job listing platform alongside an emerging HR software provider could prove attractive, particularly if artificial intelligence acts more as an enabler than a disruptor within the recruitment industry. While the long-term impact of AI on hiring platforms remains uncertain, Grupa Pracuj appears well positioned operationally. The company is also founder-led and distributes a steadily growing dividend, which currently yields around 7%.

ABC Arbitrage SA

• Market Cap: € 308.5M
• EV: €141.8M
• ROE: 15.0%
• P/E: 12.4

ABC operates a quantitative trading and market-neutral investment business that manages assets for third-parties that bring in management fees, while also investing through its own balance sheet. Its business model focuses on identifying pricing inefficiencies and temporary mispricings across financial markets and then executing high-volume trading strategies designed to profit from those discrepancies with limited directional market exposure. The company uses proprietary algorithms, statistical models, and automated trading systems to conduct arbitrage strategies across equities, derivatives, and other financial instruments. Rather than relying on long-term appreciation of assets, ABC arbitrage seeks to earn relatively stable returns from short-term market inefficiencies and liquidity provision. Its profitability depends on trading opportunities, volatility conditions, risk management, and the effectiveness of its quantitative infrastructure.

One particularly attractive aspect of ABC Arbitrage is that its investment strategies appear to be largely uncorrelated with broader market direction and may even benefit from periods of elevated volatility or market turmoil.

Capital allocation is also straightforward: the company distributes essentially all free cash flow to shareholders through dividends, resulting in a current yield of around 7%.

ANY Biztonsági Nyomda Nyrt.

• Market Cap: HUF 113.2B
• EV: HUF 120.7B
• ROIC: 28.5%
• P/E: 15.6

ANY Biztonsági operates a security printing and digital identification solutions business serving governments, financial institutions, transportation operators, and commercial clients. Its business model combines the production of secure physical documents with increasingly important digital identity and authentication services. The company generates revenue from products such as passports, ID cards, tax stamps, bank cards, transport tickets, security labels, and election materials, as well as software and verification solutions related to document security and digital identity management. Because many of its products involve long-term government contracts and regulated security requirements, the company benefits from recurring institutional demand and high barriers to entry created by technological expertise and trust requirements.

ANY has been a true compounder. Over the past decade, revenues have grown at 10% p.a., the operating margin has doubled, which helped EPS to grow over sixfold over the same period; All while steadily paying and growing a dividend that is currently yielding almost 6%.

That’s all for this week. I hope some of these ideas sparked your interest and inspired your research for the days ahead. If you’re looking for more inspiration for companies to explore, I recommend checking out last week’s article.

Have a great week!