Emerging and frontier markets outlook 2026: Super cycle redux
2025 marked the first year that emerging markets outperformed the US since 2017. Long-term believers in non-US markets hope this will mark a new period of outperformance to match the near decade-long streak in the first decade of the millennium, when emerging markets (EM) outperformed every year except for 2008, the year of the Global […]
Value’s comeback: A call option on normalisation
There is an abundance of literature that explores the merits of growth and value investing. In recent years, it is well known that exceptionally low interest rates and breakthroughs in technologies like cloud computing and generative AI have driven a strong bias toward growth stocks. With central banks maintaining highly accommodative policies and effectively removing […]
Diversification: Final call?
My conversations with many investors today show that many groups of institutional investors and other larger asset owners are focused on their portfolios’ distance from broad equity indices, such as MSCI World, and are openly trying to close that gap by introducing a range of passive, semi-passive, factor or lower tracking error investment products. To me, […]
Why higher tracking error can mean lower risk
Disciplined, value-driven equity investors may be seeing a rise in tracking error – the measure of how much a portfolio’s returns diverge from its benchmark. While risk systems often flag tracking error as a negative, the true story can be more nuanced. For a strategy committed to consistent, long-term returns and downside protection, an increase […]
Ending the race to the bottom: China’s anti-involution reforms explained
China’s pursuit of anti-involution policies is unlocking new pathways for sustainable, long-term economic growth in more technologically advanced and higher value-added industries. The government is persuading companies to eliminate inefficient operations and supports consolidation to create stronger players, providing robust businesses with the opportunity to thrive in a rationally competitive environment and ultimately guiding China […]
In for free revisited
As value investors, we are always on the lookout for a bargain but there are occasions when the market puts such a low valuation on a business, that you are essentially paying nothing for one part of it. By buying at a discount, this strategy builds in a ‘margin of safety’ and whilst in the […]
Biodiversity investing in practice: Identifying the leaders in the transition
In our previous piece on the foundations of biodiversity investing , we explored the durability of the biodiversity transition as a structural growth driver, and the depth and diversity of the investable universe. In this follow-up piece, we examine specific investment examples, showcasing companies across our four investment themes . These leaders not only highlight […]
Navigating market currents: Utilities are more than an interest rate play
As interest rates in the US, Europe, the UK and Brazil appear to have peaked, we examine how the global listed utilities sector could behave if these interest rates were to come down. It has long been considered that the dynamics of interest rates and yield curves were the primary drivers of sector performance. Investors […]
Good things come to those who wait
When equity markets fixate on a single narrative, quality businesses are often unduly punished, creating opportunities for disciplined, value-driven investors. Occasionally, however, entire sectors can fall under the shadow of a controversy, dragging down all, including sector leaders. As patient income investors, we see this as an opportunity to upgrade the quality of our investments […]
Show me the money
Breaking the ice In January 1908, just outside of Paris, a child fell into the river Seine. The front page of the February 2nd edition of The New York Times reported that the child was playing by the banks of the river but had come too close to the edge and fallen in, condemned to […]