I would like to expand on the “Dirty Secrets” published a couple of weeks back.1 “Not telling me something or hiding something on purpose is just the same as lying.” Is your manager “double dipping”? Some fund managers and brokers have [...]
Much has been written about the FAANGs - Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google (Alphabet)1 . With a combined weighting of almost 5% in the MSCI World Index, and an average return of 43.3% over the year they have largely driven US and global indices2, 3 [...]
Retailing is hard. The evidence is incontrovertible. In Australia alone, just look back over the last couple of months we have witnessed Herringbone, Rhodes and Beckett, Marcs and David Lawrence brands all being the subject of voluntary administration. Casting our minds back just a little further, [...]
Sometimes friends like to discuss the general market conditions. Recently one of my mates commented that things must be great given the prevailing booming market. I concurred, agreeing the Fund was performing well, but I also mentioned I’m not terribly excited by it all, because we tend to [...]
We would like to share with you a new item on our investment checklist. We refer to it as our “comfort test” and it is a subjective overlay that provides an “escape clause” from the strict rules that otherwise would stipulate we invest in a company. It [...]
As part of the initial investing activities the Fund established a position in Target1 (the US listed retailer). By the end of June, Urban Outfitters, which is another US listed retail business appeared more attractive (according to our internal ranking process) and holding both would have breached [...]
I have a basic premise: the larger the pond in which I fish, the more fish available, so the more discerning I can be. This is why I wish to access the broadest range of investment opportunities practicable - so I can build a high quality portfolio [...]
It was early 2013 when I really started contemplating investment options with some seriousness. I reflected on my institutional funds management experience and my interests in value investing, behavioural finance and psychology. I also cast my mind back to the old academic days as well as my [...]
When developing the Strategy, I built a single spreadsheet which encompassed both portfolio positions and performance measurement. By late 2015 I had recognised that the combination of these functions in a single file may be detrimental to process because it encouraged short term performance monitoring. Whilst it [...]
