Britain’s Broken Compounder
Nurofen won’t fix this headache. But I think somebody will.
Podcast
I can hardly attend an event with professional investors these days without someone saying they enjoy my podcast and it occurred to me that I don’t tell you much about it here. That’s silly, because I have recorded some great interviews and have some fantastic guests lined up. I have a special for the Berkshire AGM and have two guests who have run $20bn+ funds for over 30 years and who have outperformed significantly.
The first of these is Jonathan Ruffer, founder of Ruffer LLP. He is a well-known name in the UK, less so in the US. He has a brilliant turn of phrase – one listener wrote “LOVED his frankness of language, especially 'turd in the champagne.”
I liked this one:
"he spotted that equities were a coming asset class. And, given that, equities in limited liability companies had existed in England since 1840 it seemed quite late for a discovery, you know, it was like sort of discovering the opposite sex when you’re 37"
This was Ruffer on George Ross Goobey who took over Imperial Tobacco's pension fund in 1947 and switched from bonds into equities. The first pension fund to do so. Ruffer asks if it might be time to switch back. Jonathan has some strong views.
This is my third interview in 3 months on the theme of Japan. Ruffer thinks the Yen could double.
He is a deep thinker, an investor with an excellent long term track record (it's his firm's 30th anniversary this year) and a witty raconteur.
You will enjoy this podcast. Check out the show notes and you can listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. You can also watch the video here.
This Week’s Substack
This 184 year-old company has enviable brands and was once the toast of “quality” managers like Terry Smith. An ill-fated acquisition has led to years of underperformance. And last week, the shares crashed to a ten-year low after a shock court verdict.
Is there more pain ahead, or will we look back on today as a buying opportunity?