podcast
Start – 1:04
2:06 – Overview of Mawer’s equity investment philosophy:
- Wealth-creating companies
- Excellent management teams
- Discount to intrinsic value
3:10 – Softcat: What the business does and our investment thesis
5:26 – The benefit of investing in a “capital light” company
6:24 – What it means when we say we look for companies that earn a return on capital greater than their cost of capital
7:04 – How the idea was generated within the Mawer team
10:02 – Softcat’s competitive advantage and what could go wrong
13:33 – What tool the team uses to evaluate management team answers: Scuttlebutt
15:08 – Island hopping to Japan: Tsuruha—what the business does and our investment thesis
16:27 – Is Tsuruha the “Shoppers Drug Mart” of Japan?
17:27 – How the idea was generated within the Mawer team
19:55 – Tsuruha main risks: regulation
20:56 – Tracking deeds—return on equity
22:08 – Back to the UK: XP Power—what the business does and our investment thesis
24:08 – Sustainable competitive advantages: keystone business model
26:41 – Over to Switzerland: VZ Holding—what the business does and our investment thesis
29:34 – Competitive advantages: culture, CEO as founder
30:55 – The toughest question we’re asking VZ Holding’s management team
32:00 – Rapid Fire Round
- Small Cap or Large Cap and why
- Favourite German expression
- One of the most insightful observations Christian has learned from his children
