The 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 (AI) 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. Allan Gray website · Investing through disruption: Lessons from history for the age of AI

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 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. Allan Gray website · Diamonds in the rough: A look at luxury

In an environment defined by ongoing change, investors may be tempted to reduce uncertainty by trying to predict what lies ahead. However, as forecasts are seldom accurate, investors may be better served by accepting that uncertainty is inherent and by preparing for a world that will continue to surprise.

In the latest episode of The Allan Gray Podcast, Marise Bester, a manager in the ManCo Distribution team, hosts Allan Gray portfolio managers Varshan Maharaj and Kamal Govan to discuss the factors currently shaping markets and influencing investment decisions. They cover a broad range of themes, from the disconnect between South Africa’s sluggish economy and its strong market performance to how interest rates and inflation influence global markets. They also explore the underlying drivers of AI-related capital flows and delve into our approach to offshore allocation. Allan Gray website · Beyond the narratives: Investing through uncertainty · Lessons from the markets and the sea: Don’t get caught in the undertow

Global markets are navigating a challenging mix of persistent conflict, energy insecurity and volatile inflation, stoking fear among investors. In frontier and smaller emerging markets, that fear weighs heavily on asset prices, often sending them well below what the underlying business fundamentals suggest.

Horacia Naidoo-McCarthy, a manager in the Institutional Clients team, is joined by portfolio managers Rory Kutisker-Jacobson and Varshan Maharaj to explore opportunities in unloved or overlooked markets amid uncertainty. Using some examples from the Allan Gray Frontier Markets Equity Fund’s investment universe, they discuss the distinction between structural and cyclical risk, how deep fundamental research can uncover high-quality businesses hidden in plain sight, and where patient long-term investors may be rewarded for leaning into risk when fear dominates asset prices. Frontier Markets Equity Fund: Focusing on value amid market volatility · Allan Gray website

Last year’s strong market returns renewed optimism in South Africa after years of sluggish growth, but many investors are wondering whether the country has truly reached a turning point or is merely in the midst of a false dawn. Allan Gray portfolio managers Thalia Petousis and Sandy McGregor are joined by ESG analyst Raine Adams to discuss whether the country’s reform narrative is on track. They also explore the structural factors shaping the economic environment, including energy, water and logistics, and share views on whether local asset prices can withstand global shocks. Tipping point or false dawn? South Africa’s defining question · Allan Gray website

For many investors, 2025 intensified the behavioural pressures that shape investment decisions. Markets reached record highs, even as global growth slowed and political tides turned across major economies. Amid these contrasts, investors and advisers were reminded just how crucial it is to manage behaviour. Falling prey to inherent behavioural biases and knee-jerk reactions when markets shift are well-known ways to hinder performance and erode returns. In conversation with Allan Gray portfolio manager Tim Acker, leading behavioural finance expert and author Dr Daniel Crosby explores habits and hacks that personal and professional investors can employ to navigate volatile markets, avoid cognitive traps and enhance their long-term investment success. Allan Gray website · Why behaviour shapes long-term investment success more than performance

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 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. ·

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