| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 11.6% | - | 15.2% |
| 2025 |
|---|
| 15.2% |
The Global Leaders Strategy delivered strong absolute returns of 15.2% in 2025 but trailed the benchmark due to underperformance in financials and information technology sectors. The strategy maintains its focus on high-quality companies with superior customer outcomes and pricing power. AI dominated much of the investment narrative in 2025, with the manager investing across all four layers of the AI tech stack through companies like Microsoft, Alphabet, TSMC, and ASML. The portfolio saw significant activity with 4 new entrants and 9 exits, including strategic moves in credit bureaus by adding Equifax and Experian while exiting positions in Marvell Technology and Adobe due to valuation and risk concerns. Supply-side competition remains the biggest risk, particularly evident in AI where disruption potential exceeds current adoption. The opportunity set appears broad with potential investments across multiple sectors. Expected base case IRR is just over 10% on a 5-year view, with the strategy maintaining its time arbitrage approach and valuation discipline.
The Global Leaders Strategy focuses on delivering attractive long-term performance by investing in a concentrated portfolio of companies that can uniquely solve a problem for their customers and generate attractive economics for shareholders through superior customer outcomes, pricing power, and high recurring revenue while requiring low financial leverage.
Today our expectation of the average base case Internal Rate of Return within Global Leaders is just over 10% on a 5-year view on top of the gains of the past 3 years. The opportunity set looks broad right now with multiple potential new investments across consumer discretionary, insurance, industrial aftermarkets, software and semiconductors.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 26 2026 | 2025 Q4 | ADBE, ALLE, ASML, AZO, EFX, EXPN.L, GE, GOOG, ILMN, LSEG.L, MA, MRVL, MSFT, ROG.SW, RTO.L, TSM, V, WDAY, WKL.AS, ZTS | AI, Data, global, infrastructure, Quality, technology | - | AI is incredibly fast moving with innovations from DeepSeek in China to chain of experts and reasoning models becoming default standards. The potential for disruption… |
| Nov 8 2025 | 2025 Q3 | ALLE, ASML, BBCA IJ, GE, GOOG, INTU, LSEG LN, MRVL, TSM, WDAY, WKL NA | GLP-1 |
TSLA BBCA IJ WDAY |
The strategy underperformed due to not owning leading AI beneficiaries such as NVIDIA, Broadcom, and Oracle during an AI-driven rally. The letter provides extensive evaluation… |
| Aug 27 2025 | 2025 Q2 | AZO, COLOB DC, EXPN LN, GE, ILMN, INTU, MSFT, PBRI IJ, RHHBY, TSM, ZTS | Capital Allocation, downside protection, global franchises, IRR, Quality | - | The commentary emphasizes investing in a concentrated set of global franchises with strong customer outcomes and durable economics. Downside protection, disciplined capital allocation, and long-term… |
| May 22 2025 | 2025 Q1 | ABNB, AMZN, BKNG, GE, GOOG, LSEG LN, SHW, ZM | - | - | - |
| Dec 31 2024 | 2024 Q4 | 1299 HK, AZO, B3SA3 BZ, BKRKY, EL, HDB, NVDA, RTO LN, ZTS | - | - | - |
| Sep 30 2024 | 2024 Q3 | - | - | - | - |
| Jun 30 2024 | 2024 Q2 | - | - | - | - |
| Mar 31 2024 | 2024 Q1 | - | - | - | - |
| Jan 17 2024 | 2023 Q4 | - | - | - | - |
| Aug 14 2023 | 2023 Q2 | - | - | - | - |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
AIAI has become a dominant theme across major equity indices, with Nvidia leading the S&P 500, ASML dominating MSCI EAFE, and TSMC leading emerging markets. The fund benefited from AI-related dynamics, particularly through Samsung's memory products experiencing substantial price increases due to DRAM shortages driven by AI demand. |
Semiconductors Memory DRAM Technology Nvidia |
DataData and information service providers face hypothetical challenges focused on AI's potential to change competitive dynamics, leading to valuation de-rating despite solid operating results. Companies like Experian and LSEG have proprietary datasets that cannot be easily replicated by AI, with deep regulatory moats and embedded customer relationships providing protection. |
Data Analytics Information Services Proprietary Data Credit Bureaus Financial Data | |
QualityThe portfolio has shifted toward higher quality businesses with better profitability, lower leverage, and less volatile earnings. Quality stocks underperformed significantly in 2025, creating attractive entry points for value investors. The manager maintains price discipline while seeking quality companies trading at discounts to intrinsic value. |
Quality Profitability Leverage Earnings | |
| 2025 Q3 |
AIAI has become a dominant theme across major equity indices, with Nvidia leading the S&P 500, ASML dominating MSCI EAFE, and TSMC leading emerging markets. The fund benefited from AI-related dynamics, particularly through Samsung's memory products experiencing substantial price increases due to DRAM shortages driven by AI demand. |
Semiconductors Memory DRAM Technology Nvidia |
| 2025 Q2 |
QualityThe portfolio has shifted toward higher quality businesses with better profitability, lower leverage, and less volatile earnings. Quality stocks underperformed significantly in 2025, creating attractive entry points for value investors. The manager maintains price discipline while seeking quality companies trading at discounts to intrinsic value. |
Quality Profitability Leverage Earnings |
| Date | Pitch Type | Author | Ticker | Company | Industry | Sub Industry | Bull / Bear | Exchange | Keywords | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 8, 2025 | Fund Letters | Mick Dillon, Bertie Thomson | TSLA | Tesla, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Electric vehicles & energy platform | Bull | NASDAQ | Autonomy, Electric Vehicles, energy storage, growth, operating leverage, robotics, valuation, vertical integration | Login |
| Nov 8, 2025 | Fund Letters | Mick Dillon, Bertie Thomson | BBCA IJ | PT Bank Central Asia Tbk | Other | Indonesian retail & commercial banking | Bull | NYSE | credit quality, digital banking, dividends, Emerging markets, loan growth, low-cost deposits, retail banking, ROE | Login |
| Nov 8, 2025 | Fund Letters | Mick Dillon, Bertie Thomson | WDAY | Workday, Inc. | Information Technology | Application Software | Bull | NASDAQ | AI, Cloud software, financial management, Free Cash Flow, Human capital management, operating leverage, recurring revenue, SaaS | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| ADBE | Later in the quarter we initiated Adobe, a stock we have held before, where we believe AI is more likely to enhance the product suite than disrupt it. |
| ASML | ASML is the largest constituent of the MSCI EAFE Index as the critical toolmaker in the AI ecosystem. |
| AZO | Within the portfolio, stocks like AutoZone, Comcast, and Zoetis were all punished for having perceived headwinds to already lowered expectations for growth. |
| EFX | We divested our position in Equifax during the quarter following a strategic shift by FICO, a leading provider of credit scores to the mortgage industry. FICO announced plans to sell its credit scores directly to mortgage underwriters, bypassing the credit bureaus and thereby pressuring the economics that EFX has historically captured in the credit-scoring value chain. |
| EXPN.L | Experian's shares were -1% in 2025. Consistent with much of the rest of the portfolio, operating results remain solid. The company will almost certainly report double-digit growth in earnings for 2025, and the company has met or exceeded investors' expectations for the year. The challenges have not so much been financial but hypothetical – focussed on AI's potential to change competitive dynamics in their industry. Experian is valued on a prospective 4.5% equity FCF yield. We have added to the Strategy's investments this year. |
| GE | The IGBT—the power semiconductor that made modern motor control possible—was invented at General Electric by B. Jayant Baliga. Jack Welch sold GE's semiconductor division in 1988 |
| GOOG | Alphabet's Q4 performance marks a significant triumph, characterized by a rare beat and raise narrative across all critical business segments. The company's recent earnings report was driven by a balanced contribution from its legacy Search and YouTube divisions, with Google Cloud emerging as the standout performer. Cloud's revenue growth reached an impressive 34%, and it boasts an extraordinary $155 billion backlog, a nearly double increase compared to the previous quarter. |
| ILMN | Illumina, with almost 70% market share in gene sequencing, has weathered a storm of life science funding cuts and competitive entries. While the coast is not completely clear, they remain well positioned to benefit from any acceleration in both clinical and research spending in the life-sciences. |
| LSEG.L | LSEG's shares were -20%. They are therefore illustrative of companies that have held back the Strategy's returns this year. Consistent with much of the rest of the portfolio, operating results remain solid. The company will almost certainly report double-digit growth in earnings for 2025, and the company has met or exceeded investors' expectations for the year. The challenges have not so much been financial but hypothetical – focussed on AI's potential to change competitive dynamics in their industry. LSEG is at 6.1% FCF yield. We have added to the Strategy's investments this year. |
| MA | The enduring appeal of card payments is their universality. Consumers trust that Visa and Mastercard will be accepted globally. After more than 20 years of litigation, Visa and Mastercard agreed to yet another settlement that gives merchants greater flexibility |
| MRVL | We also initiated a position in Marvell Technology which is a fabless semiconductor company that supplies technology necessary to move, store, process and secure data across various end-markets such as data centers, enterprise networks and telecommunications infrastructure. We believe the risk/reward looks compelling and we elected to start a position on the stock's recent pullback. |
| MSFT | OpenAI's well-documented 'circular' funding with its business partners (NVIDIA, Microsoft, among others) is additional cause for concern. |
| ROG.SW | Roche contributed positively. We can attribute this both to stabilisation of their core businesses and also encouraging pipeline developments in oncology and obesity treatments. The investment case for these related companies is starting to play out positively, and we see several years of continued pipeline momentum ahead. |
| RTO.L | We also hold a number of positions whose fundamentals strengthened even though their market prices remained essentially unchanged for the year. This includes our positions in Amazon (AMZN), Rentokil (RTO), Ag Growth (AFN), EPAM and Grifols (GRFS). That widening gap between intrinsic value and market price strengthens our conviction and positions us well for when fundamentals ultimately assert themselves. |
| TSM | TSMC leads the MSCI Emerging Markets Index as the manufacturer in the AI ecosystem. |
| V | We added to our holdings in Visa Inc. |
| WDAY | Finally, we have exited our relatively small position in Workday. The company's growth has decelerated the past few quarters and the Financials segment of the business (~25% of sales) is growing slower than we believe it should be. This is a company we may revisit at a later date but, for now, feel that we have better opportunities in other areas of the portfolio. |
| WKL.AS | Wolters Kluwer is the leader in technical publishing used by professionals in health, tax, accounting, risk & compliance and legal. It seems to have become viewed as an AI disruption victim but this seems about as true as the now discredited view that Adobe and Intuit were AI beneficiaries. |
| ZTS | Zoetis is a leader in the animal health market with leading products for companion animals (pets) and livestock. The company has a broad portfolio with multiple growth drivers and a strong pipeline to address several undertreated pet conditions. Concerns about one of its arthritis drugs used in dogs have pressured the share price recently, allowing us to introduce a position below our estimate of intrinsic value. |
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