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Liam Sharp

Never mind green shoots, here's a transplanted Brit in wellies who's been splashing Acme Super-Fast Fertilizer around for years. Gerald Cooper-Key began tending the $844-million Mawer World Investment Fund for Calgary's Mawer Investment Management Ltd. in 1987. As of Sept. 30, he was sitting on a lush average annual compound return of 8.2% over two decades, far ahead of the 4.8% posted by the typical global equity fund that excludes North America. Now, at age 61, he's stepping back from day-to-day management of the fund, handing over more duties to co-manager David Ragan.

I'm not easily rattled and I maintain the same disciplines in all markets. I have very low turnover in my portfolio. I care very much about what I pay for earnings, cash flow, growth, return on book value and the safety of the company.

A mistake rookie investors often make is giving in to the urge to do something when the best investment decision is to do nothing. Always at the top of the market and the bottom of the market, everybody wants to change things.

I have no interest in tracking an index. You can't beat an index by following it. To me, risk is losing clients' money.

High turnover among a company's executives is disturbing. And when a company wanders from its core business, I hear warning bells. HSBC Holdings PLC will be a survivor and return to being a very profitable bank. BHP Billiton Ltd. will remain one of the premier resource companies. We hold both.

It took a while for global political leaders to comprehend the seriousness of the financial crisis, but once they did, I was impressed by their speed.

The Dow has often gone for long periods before breaching a previous peak. That doesn't preclude future growth. Long-run returns from equities must be higher than from lower-risk debt or there would be no inducement to invest in them.

Lessons from military history include the principle that you don't have to be big to succeed and, to borrow from Voltaire, "God is not on the side of the big battalions, but of the best shots." Rolls-Royce Group PLC is an aviation industry holding that relies as much on servicing engines as on building them. It's difficult for new entrants to compete.

There have been fears of social breakdown in Britain for centuries. Each crisis led to reforms and, in time, a better and stronger nation. The U.K. will provide opportunities as it comes out of its current financial crisis.

With a little more free time, I expect to spend some of it boating on the West Coast.



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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 1:14pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
BHP-N
Bhp Billiton Ltd ADR
+0.23%57.66
HSBC-N
HSBC Holdings Plc ADR
+0.77%39.29

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