| ANNUALIZED SINCE INCEPTION | QUARTERLY | YTD |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0% | -3.2% | -5.9% |
The Bell Global Emerging Companies Fund declined 1.8% in December 2025, underperforming the MSCI World SMID Cap Index by 1.0%. The portfolio's Quality at a Reasonable Price approach faced headwinds as markets continued favoring momentum and sentiment-driven narratives over fundamentals. Key contributors included Old Dominion Freight Line, which benefited from better-than-expected volume and pricing trends, along with industrial names like MonotaRO, Toro, and Core & Main. Detractors included Tractor Supply, reflecting preference for lower-quality cyclicals, and healthcare names Cencora and Veeva Systems. The team made strategic portfolio adjustments, adding W.W. Grainger and LPL Financial while exiting Moncler, Verra Mobility, and Jack Henry & Associates. Looking ahead to 2026, the managers see an increasingly supportive backdrop for their quality-focused approach, with compelling valuations across many holdings and portfolio upside potential at the upper end of historical ranges. They expect markets to transition toward earnings-driven leadership, favoring companies with consistent cash generation and durable growth characteristics.
The Bell Global Emerging Companies Fund employs a Quality at a Reasonable Price (QARP) approach, investing in global small and mid cap companies with consistently high returns, durable growth characteristics, and compelling valuations, positioned to benefit as markets transition from narrative-driven to earnings-driven leadership.
Looking ahead to 2026, the team sees the backdrop as increasingly supportive for their QARP investment approach. Valuations across many high-quality businesses are compelling and the portfolio's weighted upside potential sits at the upper end of historical ranges. They expect sustained earnings delivery to support re-rating of portfolio holdings over time, with the portfolio very well positioned for 2026 with improving risk-reward, attractive entry valuations and multiple pathways to stronger absolute and relative performance.
| Date | Letter | Tickers | Keywords | Pitches | Quick Takes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23 2026 | 2025 Q4 | 3064.T, 6146.T, AMS.MC, AUTO.L, BJ, BOOT, CHKP, CNM, COR, CPG.L, DB1.DE, GWW, LPLA, MSCI, ODFL, PCTY, SCI, TSCO, TTC, TTI.HK, VEEV, WKL.AS | global, industrials, Quality, SMID Cap, technology, value |
ODFL GWW LPLA CPG LN 6146 JP 3064 JP TTC CNM TSCO COR AUTO LN VEEV |
The fund follows a Quality at a Reasonable Price (QARP) approach, focusing on consistently high returning companies with durable growth characteristics. 2025 was challenging for… |
| Nov 30 2025 | 2025 Q3 | AUTO LN, GMO JP, IT, JKHY | AI, earnings, Quality, Smidcap, volatility |
JKHY 3769 JP AUTO LN |
The letter emphasizes global small- and mid-cap investing with a focus on high-quality businesses exhibiting strong returns on equity, recurring revenue, and balance sheet discipline.… |
| QUARTER | THEMES | TAGS |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 |
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 |
Small CapsThe fund invests in a portfolio of competitively advantaged small and medium-sized businesses, which remained out of favor for most of the quarter. The strategy of owning leading small-cap businesses has been the foundation since inception, delivering 354 basis points of annual outperformance over the benchmark since inception despite recent headwinds. |
Growth Outperformance Benchmark Russell Businesses | |
ValueManager emphasizes investing in controlled companies trading at significant discounts to NAV, with European holding companies showing discounts of 30-68%. The strategy focuses on securities mispricing where real value exists, contrasting with overvalued technology stocks. |
Discounts NAV Mispricing Undervalued Controlled | |
| 2025 Q3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | COR | Cencora, Inc. | Health Care | Health Care Distributors | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | cashflow, Distribution, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, scale | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | AUTO LN | AutoTrader Group PLC | Communication Services | Digital Media | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Autos, Digital Marketplace, network effects, Platforms, Pricing power | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | VEEV | Veeva Systems Inc. | Health Care | Health Care Technology | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Health care software, life sciences, recurring revenue, SaaS, Stickiness | Login |
| Nov 30, 2025 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | JKHY | Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. | Information Technology | Application Software | Bull | NASDAQ | banking, Fintech, Modernisation, Recurring, Software | Login |
| Nov 30, 2025 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | 3769 JP | GMO Payment Gateway, Inc. | Information Technology | Transaction & Payment Processing Services | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Cashless, Fintech, growth, Margins, Payments | Login |
| Nov 30, 2025 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | AUTO LN | Auto Trader Group plc | Communication Services | Advertising | Bear | New York Stock Exchange | advertising, AI, marketplace, network, valuation | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | ODFL | Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. | Industrials | Trucking | Bull | NASDAQ | Cyclicality, Freight, Ltl, Margins, Pricingpower | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | GWW | W.W. Grainger, Inc. | Industrials | Industrial Distribution | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | cashflow, Cycle, Industrial distribution, Margins, Pricing power | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | LPLA | LPL Financial Holdings Inc. | Financials | Investment Banking & Brokerage | Bull | NASDAQ | Brokerage, capital returns, operating leverage, organic growth, wealth management | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | CPG LN | Compass Group PLC | Consumer Discretionary | Hotels Restaurants & Leisure | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | compounding, Margins, Outsourcing, services, valuation | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | 6146 JP | Disco Corporation | Information Technology | Semiconductor Equipment | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Equipment, Margins, Pricing power, Semi Conductors, technology | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | 3064 JP | MonotaRO Co., Ltd. | Industrials | Industrial Distribution | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | compounding, ecommerce, Industrial distribution, Logistics, marketshare | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | TTC | The Toro Company | Industrials | Machinery | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Industrials, infrastructure, machinery, Pricingpower, resilience | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | CNM | Core & Main, Inc. | Industrials | Industrial Distribution | Bull | New York Stock Exchange | Distribution, growth, infrastructure, Municipal, Water | Login |
| Jan 23, 2026 | Fund Letters | Ned Bell | TSCO | Tractor Supply Company | Consumer Discretionary | Specialty Retail | Bull | NASDAQ | consumer, Cyclicality, resilience, Ruralretail, Store growth | Login |
| TICKER | COMMENTARY |
|---|---|
| AUTO.L | Auto Trader, a UK-listed automotive classifieds platform, was the Fund's largest detractor. This reflected a combination of short-term factors unrelated to its half-year earnings release in November, which was a positive surprise. These included the rollout of its new Deal Builder product in late 2025, which triggered backlash from a small but vocal portion of its UK dealer base and threats of coordinated cancellations. While actual cancellations were well under 1% of its customer base, and management undertook rapid and extensive outreach efforts with dealers, this episode likely weighed on investor sentiment. |
| BJ | BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings is a Massachusetts-based retailer operating membership warehouse clubs that sell a wide variety of goods from groceries and housewares to electronics, appliances and jewelry. With the company benefitting from better-than-expected performance from recently opened stores that highlights their strong fundamental execution and a pipeline of new stores in development, we believe that management should be able to continue these efforts to grow shareholder value over the next several years. |
| BOOT | Longer-term holdings such as Boot Barn increased, outperforming benchmark returns |
| CHKP | Shares of cybersecurity software firm Check Point Software Technologies and food manufacturer Marzetti were sold as prices approached our estimate of intrinsic value. |
| COR | Cencora Inc., a pharmaceutical sourcing and distribution company, gained 8%. Fiscal fourth quarter earnings outpaced the consensus as strength in the U.S. offset a miss in their international business. Management also announced that it is considering strategic alternatives for the animal health and non-core parts of its PharmaLex business. |
| CPG.L | Compass Group demonstrates that cornered resources need not be physical or brand-led to be powerful. Its advantage stems from exclusive, long-term contracts embedded within complex institutional environments such as hospitals, schools and large corporate campuses. Once established, these relationships are difficult to replicate due to operational scale, compliance requirements and switching action for the client. While Compass also benefits from scale efficiencies, the cornered resource emerges through contract-based exclusivity that effectively removes competitive access for extended periods. This turns client relationships into scarce assets, supporting predictable cashflows and reinforcing Compass's position as a structurally advantaged operator rather than a commoditised service provider. This is all evidenced well by their industry-leading 'client contract retention rate' of over 96%, annually. |
| GWW | One of the new entrants into the portfolio was W.W. Grainger, a North American distributor of industrial consumables, tools and supplies. We have previously owned this name in the portfolio and followed closely for many years. The driver to re-introduce to the portfolio now is an attractive valuation and view that an up-cycle seems imminent. Our modelling calls for double digit revenue growth and mid-teens EPS CAGR over the next few years, together with good potential for multiple expansion as earnings accelerate. W.W. Grainger has a solid moat allowing for pricing and market share gains on top of the industrial production growth. Its profitability (GPM, OPM, RoCE and cash conversion) is in the top-quintile relative to peers and financial leverage is low, which allows for generous shareholder returns. |
| LPLA | Additionally, a position in the leading US independent broker-dealer LPL Financial was established. LPL is well positioned to benefit from the ongoing shift toward fee-based wealth management and greater adviser independence. The company has delivered impressive organic revenue growth over time, targeting the 7–13% range, reflecting strong advisor recruitment and the firm's ongoing ability to attract advisers who are switching platforms. This momentum has translated into consistent net new asset inflows and robust revenue growth, while technology investments continue to enhance their platform stickiness and operating leverage. Although LPL does possess interest rate sensitivity through its cash sweep program, which is a meaningful earnings contributor, we are comfortable that consensus and buyside expectations already embed a prudent buffer for interest rate cuts through to 2027. Trading at a reasonable valuation relative to its growth profile and capital return potential, LPL offers a compelling risk-reward profile and exposure to structural tailwinds in wealth management. |
| MSCI | MSCI Inc. 4.3 1.40 (0.02) |
| ODFL | Rotated exposure from Old Dominion Freight Line, a leading less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier. |
| TSCO | Tractor Supply, a US based speciality retailer serving rural and recreational customers, was one of the most significant detractors for the month. With no material company-specific news, the underperformance likely reflects a current preference for some of the lower quality and more cyclical areas within the Consumer Discretionary sector. Additionally, the mild winter and absence of a major storm season suggests Q4 results may track toward the lower end of guidance. Despite this, our long-term conviction remains intact, with direct sales initiatives and accelerated store rollouts expected to support top-line growth in 2026. |
| VEEV | Veeva Systems Inc. provides industry cloud solutions to the global life sciences industry. The company delivered solid fiscal third-quarter results and issued guidance above the Street. Veeva management reiterated confidence in achieving its 2030 financial targets, maintaining that the current focus on competitive dynamics with Salesforce.com in the customer relationship management (CRM) market (20% of Veeva's total revenues) does not undermine its long-term trajectory. Despite these positives, the stock sold off by -25% on competitive concerns in the CRM market as Veeva projected lower Vault CRM customer versus its initial expectations. |
| 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. |
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Bought | Shares Bought | % Change | Weight % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Buys Data | |||||
| Ticker | Put/Call | Amount Sold | Shares Sold | % Change | Weight % | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Recent Sells Data | ||||||
| Industry | Prev Quarter % | Current Quarter % | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| No industry data available | |||
