London based Long / Short Equity Fund investing solely in the Media sector with Global coverage.
Investment Philosophy
Managers believe that the diversity and complexity of the media sector lends itself to a sector-specialist approach:
The media industry comprises numerous ecosystems and sub-sectors, with diversified drivers and fundamentals. The ecosystems can be broad (i.e. video content and distribution, including measurement) to narrow (scientific publishing). In addition, within the media stock universe, there are a significant number of idiosyncratic names (e.g. Google, Facebook, Netflix, IMAX) that lend themselves to highly focused analysis.
A focus on understanding industry fundamentals, with an emphasis on bottom-up analysis:
The Managers relationship with many media companies spans over 25 years, often encompassing every CEO and CFO in a company’s history. In addition to frequent meetings with management the team regularly attends industry conferences and has the benefit of a wide network of industry contacts. Meetings will include companies outside of mainstream media, including end users: e.g. recruitment specialists that use LinkedIn, estate agents that use Zillow, insurance companies that use risk management models and tools.
A medium to long-term investment horizon:
The Manager’s focus is on identifying catalysts, such as a change in consensus growth expectations, that will lead to a change in the relative valuation of sub-sectors and stocks. Many of these catalysts are expected to play out over time, leading to a medium/long term investment focus. This is reflected in an average portfolio turnover of approximately 12 months. The Managers are happy to hold long positions for multi-year periods if they believe a company can produce attractive compound growth, though the position may be actively traded during this period.
