Compounding delivers huge returns for investors in this excellent business

With the oil price in free fall and seemingly set to be volatile for the next few months at least, anything remotely connected to the oil and gas world has seen its value plummet over the past few months as well. This turn of events has brought out the usual criticism from some quarters of the disadvantage of holding cyclical stocks, whose fortunes ebb and flow with the commodity price.  One such engineering company who announced interim results in December 2014 was Goodwin PLC (GDWN), a small cap mechanical engineering business with a current market capitalisation of approximately £205m. This little known engineering Group has delivered 20 years annual compound pre-tax profit growth in excess of 23%, massively rewarding long term investors. If history is any guide, previous oil price sell offs present patient, long term (meaning 10 year +) investors in this Group with a terrific buying opportunity.