Global Equities

A team effort

Aberdeen has over 90 equity investment managers located across the globe close to the markets in which we invest. Last year the regional teams conducted in excess of 4,000 company meetings. From their research, they construct live regional portfolios of their best ideas. It is the aggregate of these regional portfolios which form our global equity buy list. The Global Equity team in Edinburgh then conduct further comparative analysis of these opportunities from a global perspective to finalise a concentrated, yet diversified portfolio, of around 50 companies.

A consistent and proven investment process

Our intensive, fundamental, company research is central to our investment process.

Rigorous company research

We believe that one of the most effective ways of protecting against downside risk is to know your investment. Therefore we never invest in a company before our regional equity research teams have met with management at least once and unless the company has met our strict quality and price criteria.

By quality we mean a proven management team with a track record of delivering good results and of maximising shareholder value.

We look for companies with strong balance sheets - low levels of debt and relatively strong cashflows. We see equity risk in terms of investing in a poor quality company, or overpaying for a good one.

Our research does not end once we are invested. We continue to monitor companies for price and quality, including meeting with company management regularly. We know our holdings inside out.

Long-term focus

We look for companies that will create profits over time and we ignore ‘market noise’, hence our portfolio turnover is low.

Benchmark aware - not benchmark driven

We are happy to take large active positions in quality companies and equally if we don’t like a stock we won’t buy it, regardless of its weight in the index.