Max Noble
How we judge a company

The Max Noble Score.

Every company we cover gets one number, one letter and one sentence, built from its own filings. Here is how it works.

Why Max Noble

Annual reports were written for regulators. We write for people.

A listed company publishes hundreds of pages a year. Most of the people who need to understand it never read them: the employee, the student, the supplier, the board member. We read them, and come back with the five minutes that matter.

  • Every conclusion links to evidence.

    Nothing is asserted. Everything is shown.

  • Every number comes from the original filing.

    Audited annual reports and official filings. Never second-hand.

  • Every report is written to be understood.

    If a sentence needs translating, we rewrite it.

The method

Promised. Delivered. Verdict.

Every company tells you what it will do. The filings tell you what it did. We read both, and say plainly what the gap means.

  1. The filing

    We start with the audited annual report and the official filings. Never a summary of a summary.

  2. Promised against delivered

    What management said it would do, set against what happened. The gap is where the story is.

  3. The verdict

    One number, one letter, one sentence. Always with the reasons, always with the sources.

  4. What it means

    What the business teaches, and what to watch next. Never a tip to buy or sell.

The Max Noble Score

One number. One letter. One sentence.

The Score judges the business, never the share price. It runs from 0 to 100 and maps to a rating from AAA+ to D. Below 40 is the distress zone, where BANKRUPT begins.

How a Score reads 0–100 AAA+ to D and what it means

Then the verdict, in one sentence, with every reason one click away.

Distress zone · below 40

95–100
AAA+
Generational business
90–94
AAA
Exceptional
85–89
AA
Outstanding
80–84
A
Very good
70–79
BBB
Healthy
60–69
BB
Questionable
50–59
B
Weak
40–49
CCC
Structural concerns
30–39
CC
Business survival uncertain
20–29
C
Distressed
0–19
D
Broken business model / in insolvency

Eleven pillars

From financial strength and the business model to customer love and culture. Each graded, weighted and sourced.

Warning signals

A going-concern note or a covenant breach caps the Score, however good the rest looks. Cash kills before strategy does.

Misses stay public

Every Score is logged with its date. When we are wrong, the record stays next to the calls we got right.

The warning signs, in your inbox before the headlines.

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