Allan Gray Podcast

Successful investing is often associated with making perfect decisions, yet even the most accomplished investors can be wrong from time to time. Long-term investment outcomes are driven less by perfection and more by ensuring that the best ideas are backed with conviction and time to influence long-term returns.In the latest episode of The Allan Gray Podcast, Mica Townsend, an investment specialist in our ManCo Distribution team, is joined by Allan Gray portfolio manager Tim Acker to discuss how position sizing shapes investment outcomes. Drawing on reflections across a range of our portfolio holdings, from AB InBev and Investec to Naspers and Prosus, they explore why managing downside risk, allocating capital to the most promising ideas and disciplined decision-making may matter more than achieving a perfect hit rate. Allan Gray website

Artificial intelligence is transforming the way investors access information and make decisions, yet the forces that drive markets remain remarkably familiar. In this episode of The Allan Gray Podcast, Allan Gray Institutional Clients manager Horacia Naidoo-McCarthy and Simon Skinner, director and head of Orbis’ Global Investment team, discuss the impact of AI on investing and market behaviour, the risks of false certainty and the enduring value of independent thinking.

Finding long-term compounders can feel a little like searching for a needle in a haystack. While a small number of businesses generate a disproportionate share of long-term investment equity market returns, identifying them is far more difficult than it appears in hindsight. In this episode of The Allan Gray Podcast, portfolio managers Siphesihle Zwane, Jithen Pillay and Pieter Koornhof discuss how Allan Gray searches for businesses with the potential to compound value over long periods of time. They explore why a great business is not always a great investment, what characteristics underpin enduring businesses, and why some of the best buying opportunities emerge during periods of uncertainty.

Is perfectionism costing us more than we realise in mental health, life and investment decision-making? Our head of Group Savings and Investments, Shaheed Mohamed, and Dr Thomas Curran, a leading academic on perfectionism and bestselling author, explore how striving for perfection can undermine long-term investment outcomes. Their conversation ranges from burnout and analysis paralysis to the hidden cost of chasing short-term gains. They also delve into the difference between perfection and excellence, the role of behavioural bias in investing, and the value of cultivating self-compassion and working towards realistic goals. Allan Gray website >

While what worked for the last 40 years of investing may not work for the next 40, history offers valuable lessons for the path ahead. Chief investment officer Duncan Artus and renowned author and publisher Grant Williams unpick past events and explore future opportunities. From Japan’s decades-long battle with deflation and the unique opportunities in its bond market to the rise of gold as a counterweight to fiat currency, they reflect on market cycles across regions and eras. The conversation spans geopolitics and power, inflation, disruptor industries and the slow pivot from virtual to virtuous value. Check out our website https://www.allangray.co.za/ for more details or follow the link to the youtube podcast here >

There is often a great disparity between a stock’s market value and what it is fundamentally worth. In conversation with portfolio manager Rory Kutisker-Jacobson, Mark Dunley-Owen, portfolio manager from our offshore partner, Orbis, explores global investment opportunities beyond those currently in vogue. They delve into high-conviction picks in China, standout businesses in frontier and emerging markets, and promising US mid-cap industrials, as the rise of AI ripples across sectors. Against the backdrop of shifting geopolitics, they remind investors of the importance of challenging dominant market narratives to avoid overpaying – a key factor in achieving long-term outperformance. Allan Gray website https://www.allangray.co.za/

Shifting consumer patterns and behaviour. Disruptive innovations. Generational changes. These are not simply headlines; they are real challenges being navigated by investors. However, that is not all they are. They are also opportunity creators for investors who have done their homework and are deeply focused on fundamentals. Allan Gray portfolio managers Rory Kutisker-Jacobson, Jithen Pillay and Siphesihle Zwane delve into British American Tobacco, AB InBev and Disney – three large, long-standing businesses that have managed to reinvent themselves despite existing within rapidly evolving industries, experiencing major changes in their core economics and having made major acquisitions in recent times.

Global investors have been on a rollercoaster ride in the wake of President Trump’s announcement of an array of reciprocal tariffs which rocked global stock markets, initially sending US shares tumbling and then rebounding as investors hung onto news headlines as a key determinant of prices. But prices shouldn’t be confused with value, and the extreme volatility serves as a stark reminder to investors that paying a premium for optimism is dangerous and hefty price tags should be interrogated. In a wide-ranging conversation, Institutional Clients manager Horacia Naidoo-McCarthy and Rob Perrone, a senior investment specialist at our offshore partner, Orbis, explore the current global investment universe, explain why “great expectations” appear to be baked into markets and discuss many of the compelling opportunities in less popular markets. Orbis Global Balanced: Defensively positioned to deliver long-term returns. refrenced urls: https://www.allangray.co.za/latest-insights/offshore-investing/the-conflict-between-price-and-fundamentals & https://www.allangray.co.za/

South African listed property has shifted from being a leading wealth creator in the early 2000s to one of the weakest performers over the past decade on the back of sluggish economic growth, ongoing infrastructure challenges and the impact of COVID-19 on retail and office space demand. Over the last year, the sector has shown signs of recovery. Is it time to cement the opportunity, or should it be approached with caution? In conversation with Allan Gray portfolio manager Siphesihle Zwane, investment analysts Ghiete van Zyl and Umar-Farooq Kagee explore how we apply our long-term investment approach when considering opportunities in listed property. They also unpack the distinctive features of this asset class and explain the fundamental drivers of the sector’s longer-term prospects. Allan Gray website

Global elections have been a dominant force this year, with sentiment around polling and election results driving volatility in many markets. The ANC’s drastic decline at the polls and the formation of a government of national unity have been of keen interest to investors in SA Inc. Abroad, we have seen Labour take the lead by a landslide in the UK general election and the US presidential race heat up as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump increase their efforts to return to the White House. In the latest episode of The Allan Gray Podcast, portfolio managers Thalia Petousis and Sean Munsie join Product Development manager Vuyo Mroxiso to explore the impact of the great election year on financial markets and explain how political change is reshaping the opportunity set for long-term investors and how it effects retirement funds etc.