May 2014: Thoughts from Omaha
[As published in the Manual of Ideas, May 2014]
As fund managers, attempting to learn from and emulate the success of Warren Buffett, most of our focus is on his decisions and judgement. What is less commonly discussed is the importance of his personality towards his success.
July 2013: Invest Like Buffett – published in Share Magazine
This article sets out the core tenets of value investing, shows that there is clear evidence for its long-term success and explains the behavioural reasons why it cannot often be applied within the mainstream investment world.
May 2013: Insights from London Value Investor Conference
This article by small-cap investor and Investors Chronicle writer Paul Scott was written about our presentation at the 2013 London value Investor Conference, which covered the investment case for Cisco and J Smart.
May 2013: Simon’s observations from Berkshire Hathaway meeting in Omaha
Simon’s notes from Omaha are included in this compendium of investors observations from the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha.
Feb 2013: Metropolis Capital Letter to the Board of Dell Inc
This letter was sent to the Board of Dell Inc in response the take-private transaction, proposed by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners.In this letter, we set out some of the detail behind our conviction that the deal significantly undervalues the company and is a very poor deal for long-term shareholders like our fund.
July 2012: “Going to Dell in a hand basket?” – presentation at the 9th Value Investing Seminar in Trani
We started investing in Dell in the Summer of 2012; this was a presentation given by Simon to an annual gathering of Value Investors in Trani, Italy in July2012, which set out our thesis for the investment.
May 2012: The Berkshire Shareholders Meeting
So soon after Buffett’s remarkably candid announcement that he had been diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer, it was impressive to hear him and his 88 year old Vice Chairman, Charlie Munger, displaying their usual high levels of energy, acerbic wit and razor sharp analytical powers to handle the 6 hours of questions from shareholders and analysts. We have written up our highlights from the event.
January 2012: The causes and consequences of the Eurozone Crisis
Whilst we are bottom up investors and retain a detachment from the market’s daily oscillations, driven by the next political sound bite from a European Head of State, we cannot ignore the potential ramifications of the current Eurozone crisis on a fundamental level for the companies we invest in. In this article, Jonathan Mills, sets out our thesis for the longer term sustainability of the Euro in its current form and how this is shaping our investment strategy.
November 2011: Interview of Simon Denison-Smith in the Manual of Ideas
An interview in The Manual of Ideas, a high quality online research resource for value investors, providing screening and detailed research on specific value ideas. Click on the link above for a copy of the interview, which provides commentary on two of our investments.
November 2011 : Why every Non Executive should think like Warren Buffett
We authored this article on behalf of the Winmark NED Network (www.winmarkeurope.com), a forum for Non Executive Directors, representing over 200 public companies and numerous private companies. It was published to the network on 8 November 2011. The article sets out a suggested framework for how Non Execs should think about capital allocation, particularly regarding acquisitions.
May 2011 : The Berkshire Shareholders Meeting
Jonathan and I attended the annual shareholders meeting in Omaha. This year was always going to be interesting, coming so soon after the abrupt departure of David Sokol, who had been widely tipped as the successor to the operational management role of Berkshire. The event lived up to expectations with a set of high quality questions and the usual lively, witty and insightful responses from the Chairman and Vice Chairman.