30 Apr 2024
A Very Long Hill
James Bullock
In 1626, so the story goes, the native Lenape people sold the island of Manhattan, to the Dutch East India Company for 60 guilders worth of trinkets, the supposed equivalent of $24. A famously bad trade for the tribe given the island’s current estimated value of well over a trillion dollars.30 Mar 2023
Unintended Consequences
Nick Train
Amidst the recent reportage about the winnowing out of the UK stock market, I was particularly struck by William Hague’s article in The Times in March. He somewhat shamefacedly quotes an expert on the pension industry who notes the UK has become “the only major economy where local pension funds have in effect abandoned investment in domestic companies.”30 Nov 2022
The Triumph of Experience Over Hope
James Bullock
In 2014 Michael Lewis’s Flash Boys introduced the public to the frantic practice of high frequency trading. Orders, millions per second, executed at speeds to outpace or even front-run others. A frenetic world about as far away from Lindsell Train’s languid approach as possible.28 Jun 2022
Muddy Waters
Madeline Wright
This piece is a companion to an earlier insight, “Scope 3 Under The Microscope”, in which I observed that our ESG work has highlighted a number of themes pertinent to a large proportion of our portfolio companies.02 May 2022
Drinking Less, Drinking Better
Madeline Wright
What does it really mean to say that consumers are “drinking less, but drinking better”? It is an important observation for us, given we have a number of our investments in premium alcoholic beverage brand owners.12 Nov 2021
Scope 3 Under The Microscope
Madeline Wright
One of the advantages of running portfolios as concentrated and long-term focused as ours is that we are able to dedicate a great deal of time to in-depth research on individual companies.01 Feb 2021
Rational numbers
James Bullock
At the tail-end of the 19th century, a small-town Carolinas chemist named Caleb Bradham hit upon an exciting new formulation. A marvellous tonic that served as both a refreshing pick-me-up and a remedy for indigestion, an affliction more formally known as dyspepsia.01 Oct 2020
Lost in the Supermarket
Madeline Wright
In February 2019 something seismic occurred in the world of packaged food – Kraft Heinz took an eyewatering writedown of $15bn on its Kraft and Oscar Mayer franchises, two iconic American brands that have appeared on the tables of families for decades.01 Jun 2020
Quantifying Quality
James Bullock
Quality is seductive. Few would complain if you labelled their business or strategy as ‘quality’. But as Mr Drucker (the father of modern management theory) points out it’s also elusive and ambiguous.01 Nov 2019
Are You Experienced?
Madeline Wright
I recently listened to a podcast in which a retail industry consultant, Doug Stephens, argued that "retail is no longer a distribution mechanism for product but a customer acquisition strategy".01 Jun 2019
Valuation Challenge
James Bullock
Valuations are challenging. Achieving precision is of course impossible, but even the roughest of estimates can be extremely hard to derive without resorting to conjecture.01 May 2019