The unknown bull market on the frontier
When measured by the standard 20% recovery from a bear market, [1] the MSCI Frontier Markets Index began its bull market run in 2023. From 31 May 2023 to 31 May 2025, the index has gained 35.7%, which equates to 16.5% per annum. Investors might not have noticed the impressive performance of this small and […]
On the road…in China
Colin Liang, Head of China Research, and Joseph Ayoola, Analyst, report from Shanghai after a two-week research tour across China.
Banking breakthroughs
Financial inclusion lifts emerging and frontier markets As banks in developed markets grapple with margin compression, their emerging market counterparts are capturing entirely new customer bases with minimal legacy infrastructure costs. We believe that the investment implications of financial inclusion are as attractive as they are unrecognized. Financial inclusion—providing people and businesses with access to […]
Finding value amid a new generation of price-agnostic investors: Part 2
Part 2: Pod shops This is the second in a series of notes that explores the increase in the number of market participants who are ‘valuation agnostic’, and how their influence might explain why the gap between the cheapest and most expensive stocks is close to its widest level for fifty years – see Chart […]
Jurassic farce
Blockbusters and buyouts As career moves go, it’s certainly an unusual one. In 1969, a newly-minted Harvard Medical School graduate abandoned his promising career as a doctor to pursue his true passion: writing novels. As it turned out, this was a wise choice. That graduate – Michael Crichton – would go on to forge a […]
Finding value amid a new generation of price-agnostic investors: Part 1
Part 1: Passive investing The very essence of value investing is the search for securities which are incorrectly priced, i.e. where the market price is trading at a substantial discount to the intrinsic value of the underlying business. This will sometimes happen because the average investor is prone to behavioural biases such as extrapolation, herding […]
Improving patient outcomes in cancer detection
Are patients about to benefit from a revolution in cancer detection?
Renewable energy valuations: Is anyone paying attention?
Listed renewable energy companies remain materially undervalued In early 2024 and again in 2025, we published notes drawing attention to the spate of extraordinary M&A activity in the renewable power sector driven by extremely compressed multiples. With valuations on listed companies often below the value of operating assets, private equity firms have seized the opportunity […]
Men and their marvellous money machines
Window shopping I’d like you to picture the scene: you are walking through a quaint village somewhere on a crisp spring day, enjoying some leisurely window shopping along the local high street. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot a shop that you’ve never seen before; in the window is a small machine […]
Inflation is every government’s dream
Inflation as a policy choice Governments are traditionally expected to control inflation. But in today’s economic environment—with record debt levels, fiscal stimulus, and expectations for rate cuts—an alternative view is emerging: inflation may not just be tolerated but actively encouraged. A return to sustained inflation could be the path of least resistance for indebted governments […]