Navigating the sea of opportunities in Australian small caps is always a challenge. While the Australian Small Ordinaries index has averaged 6% p.a. for the past 10 years, there have been some huge winners that have emerged from the sea of unprofitable companies, mining explorers and companies trying to figure it out.

Today we are joined by Roland Houghton, Co-Portfolio Manager of the Milford Dynamic Small Companies Fund, to help us understand how to find winners in the smaller part of the market.

In today's episode of Basis Points we unpack:

• Roland's investment philosophy and criteria
• How the process starts with idea generation
• Then what the Milford team are looking for as they research these ideas
• How Milford combine the bottom-up and top-down when building a thesis
• What Milford's macro models are telling us at the moment
• Then we bring to life with a deep dive into 3 stocks in Roland's Dynamic Small Companies fund

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CPD Points: This episode is accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

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Thank you to Milford for sponsoring this episode of Basis Points, and helping us keep all of our content free.

If you want to learn more about Milford's range of funds, including Roland's Dynamic Small Companies Fund, visit their website.

Before you invest, be sure to read the Milford Funds Product Disclosure Statements and Target Market Determinations at milfordasset.com.au

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Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Basis Points acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. 

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. 

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The majority of investors are underweight the UK. The country has struggled through a decade of slow economic growth as it manages the legacy of Brexit and the FTSE 100 is full of companies that are seen as "ex-growth" or "old economy".

Which is why we were surprised to hear that Stephen Arnold of Aoris Investment Management is overweight the UK, with 5 of his 14 positions coming from this overlooked market.

So on today's episode of Basis Points we are joined by Stephen to unpack his thinking:

• What investors get wrong about the UK market
• Why UK stocks aren't tied to the UK macro story
• Stephen's philosophy on portfolio construction and his preference for concentrated portfolios
• A look at top contributors to Aoris' performance last year, including: Halma (LON: HLMA) and RELX (LON: REL)
• A deep dive on Compass Group (LON: CPG)

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CPD Points: This episode is accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

Basis Points would not be possible without the support of our three launch partners:

• Orbis Investments - Invest differently
• Milford - Invested in the outcome
• CBOE - Local market, global opportunities

Thank you to all three partners for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Basis Points acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. 

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. 

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Investing is as much behavioural as it is academic. Some of the smartest investors and advisers have found themselves undone as they lose their mind in the noise of markets. Today's guest wants us to take a deep breath, recognise our cognitive biases and focus on the principles of good long-term investing.

Today we're joined by Alec Cutler, Director at Orbis Investments and manager of the Orbis Global Balanced Fund.

We speak to Alec about:

• Why good investors often underperform the market
• The most common cognitive biases he sees
• How the Orbis Investments team use process to recognise their own biases
• The risk of being too concentrated in large-cap US stocks
• What we can all do to improve diversification in our portfolios

----------

CPD Points: This episode has been accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

This episode has been sponsored by Orbis.

If you would like to learn more about Orbis' contrarian investment approach can offer a true point of diversification when constructing client portfolios, click here.

Thank you to Orbis for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. Basis Points is intended solely for industry professionals, financial advisers and wholesale investors. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial adviser. There are risks with any investments, including one in the Orbis funds. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance and the value of any investment in an Orbis fund is not guaranteed.

This podcast represents Orbis' view at a point in time and provides reasoning on why Orbis has bought or sold a particular security for its funds. Orbis may take the opposite view from that stated, as facts or circumstances may change. This podcast does not prohibit the Orbis funds from dealing in the securities before or after this is published.

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Asset consultants have been a huge rise in prominence alongside the rise of SMAs. One person who has been on the forefront of this movement has been Angela Ashton, cofounder of Evergreen Consultants.

Today we're joined by Angela to unpack:

• Best practice for advice firms working with asset consultants
• How to find the right consultant for your business
• Angela's bedrock rules of portfolio construction
• A process to assess fund managers
• Common mistakes made when setting up SMAs
• Where Angela sees advice industry going

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CPD Points: This episode has been accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

• Legislated CPD Area(s): Technical Competence
• Knowledge Requirement(s): Managed Investments

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

Basis Points would not be possible without the support of our three launch partners:

• Orbis Investments - Invest differently
• Milford - Invested in the outcome
• CBOE - Local market, global opportunities

Thank you to all three partners for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Basis Points acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. 

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. 

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we're joined by Rob Mead, Managing Director and co-Head of Asia-Pacific Portfolio Management at PIMCO.

PIMCO is one of the world's largest investment managers, managing trillions of dollars in fixed-income securities for clients. So they are well placed to give us a sense of the economy and where that may lead markets and rates for the rest of 2025.

Today we speak to Rob about:

• The state of the economy in both Australia and the US
• PIMCO's view on where rates will go from here in both Australia and the US
• Why many advisers are underweight bonds and the risks that may cause in client portfolios

This episode was recorded on March 27th 2025.

----------

CPD Points: This episode has been accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

This episode has been sponsored by PIMCO.

If you would like to learn more about PIMCO and their Cboe-listed ETFs, head to: https://www.pimco.com/au/en

Thank you to PIMCO for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Basis Points acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. 

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. 

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Investing is an expectations game, and today’s guest wants to help you get the probabilities in your favour

Today we're joined by Matt Wacher, Chief Investment Officer for Asia-Pacific at Morningstar.

In our conversation, we cover:

• Why investing should be thought of as an expectations game
• How we can identify the expectations investors have for different companies and markets
• Why Matt likes finding the lowest bars to jump over
• Examples of this approach: How it helped Matt and his team identify Alibaba's turnaround and avoid Nvidia's fall
• Another company that Matt thinks the market has overreacted to and is set up for a turnaround

----------

CPD Points: This episode has been accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

• Legislated CPD Area(s): Technical Competence
• Knowledge Requirement(s): Managed Investments

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

Basis Points would not be possible without the support of our three launch partners:

• Orbis Investments - Invest differently
• Milford - Invested in the outcome
• CBOE - Local market, global opportunities

Thank you to all three partners for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Basis Points acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. 

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. 

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Basis Points has launched! And what a big episode to kick off with.

Today we're joined by the founder of Viola Private Wealth and an adviser who often sits at the top of the list of Australia's best advisers: Charlie Viola.

In a wide-ranging conversation, we speak to Charlie about:

• Going out on his own and launching Viola Private Wealth
• His foundational principles of portfolio construction
• Best practice for educating clients and bringing them on the journey
• How the Viola team assess emerging asset classes

----------

CPD Points: This episode has been accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

Basis Points would not be possible without the support of our three launch partners:

• Orbis - Invest differently
• Milford Asset Management - Invested in the outcome
• CBOE - local market, global opportunities

Thank you to all three partners for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Basis Points acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. 

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. 

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The past decade has been tough for stock pickers. Active managers have struggled to keep up with the index, particularly in the US, as Big Tech pushed ever-higher and a flood of money flowed into passive ETFs. Our guest today thinks that some of these trends are reversing.

Today we're joined by Eric Marais, Investment Specialist at Orbis.

We speak to Eric about:

• The case for reducing exposure to US Big Tech
• Some counterintuitive ideas that form the basis of Orbis' philosophy
• Why Eric believes animal spirits are back
• How we could be entering a stock pickers market
• Two stocks Eric finds interesting: Nintendo (TYO: 7974) and Corpay (NYSE: CPAY)

----------

CPD Points: This episode has been accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

This episode has been sponsored by Orbis.

If you would like to learn more about Orbis' contrarian investment approach can offer a true point of diversification when constructing client portfolios, click here.

Thank you to Orbis for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. Basis Points is intended solely for industry professionals, financial advisers and wholesale investors. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial adviser. There are risks with any investments, including one in the Orbis funds. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance and the value of any investment in an Orbis fund is not guaranteed.

This podcast represents Orbis' view at a point in time and provides reasoning on why Orbis has bought or sold a particular security for its funds. Orbis may take the opposite view from that stated, as facts or circumstances may change. This podcast does not prohibit the Orbis funds from dealing in the securities before or after this is published.

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everyone can talk-the-talk when it comes to diversification. But are our portfolios walking-the-walk? Today's guest doesn't think so.

Today we're joined by Adam Bajcarz, Head of Portfolio Management at Apt Wealth.

In this episode we focus on:

• Apt Wealth's investment philosophy and rules of portfolio construction
• Where Adam believes many advisers are getting diversification wrong
• How the investment team at Apt Wealth assess fund managers
• Adam's 5 P's of investing
• The emerging asset classes that Adam is seeing more of in Australia

----------

CPD Points: This episode has been accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

Basis Points would not be possible without the support of our three launch partners:

• Orbis - Invest differently
• Milford Asset Management - Invested in the outcome
• CBOE - Local market, global opportunities

Thank you to all three partners for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Basis Points acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. 

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. 

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The global opportunity set for investors is massive. And yet, so much of our attention focuses on such a narrow section of one market. Today's guest wants us to break out of our bubble and explore the full global opportunity that we have before us.

Today we're joined by Alexander Whight, Portfolio Manager and Head of Global Equities at Milford.

We speak to Alexander about:

• Separating the signal from the noise is such a noisy market
• Alexander's investment process at Milford: from uncovering new ideas, research to investing
• The best uses of AI tools for stock research
• Two companies Alexander is finding interesting at the moment: API Group (NYSE: APG) and Aramark (NYSE: ARMK)

----------

CPD Points: This episode has been accredited for CPD points by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA).

To claim your points, complete the CPD Quiz and we'll send you your certificate.

----------

This episode has been sponsored by Milford.

If you’d like to find out more about what Milford can do for your clients, check out milfordasset.com.au.

To learn more and before you invest, be sure to read the Milford Funds Product Disclosure Statements and Target Market Determinations at milfordasset.com.au. 'Milford’ in this podcast refers to Milford Australia Pty Ltd ABN 65 169 262 971 (AFSL 461253), which was formerly known as Milford Asset Management in Australia.

Thank you to Milford for helping us keep all of our content free and accessible.

----------

Want more Basis Points?

• Sign up to the Basis Points email
• Join the conversation on LinkedIn
• Watch all episodes in full and relive some of our favourite clips on YouTube

----------

In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of Basis Points acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. 

----------

Basis Points is a product of Equity Mates Media. 

This podcast is intended for education and entertainment purposes. Any advice is general advice only, and has not taken into account your personal financial circumstances, needs or objectives. Before acting on general advice, you should consider if it is relevant to your needs and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. And if you are unsure, please speak to a financial professional. 

Equity Mates Media operates under Australian Financial Services Licence 540697.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.