Having a long-term approach to investing isn’t speculating what
share prices might do over the next few months or even over the next year.
It’s considering what changes might be occurring over the next decade and
the role that companies are playing in enabling and driving that change.
It’s focusing on what those changes will mean for a company’s ability to
grow its earnings over a meaningful period of time,
not over the next quarter.
In practice, this means using a range of sources
of information and engaging with a wide variety of people
to help us think about big societal shifts, emerging
and converging technologies and evolving business models.
When we engage with management teams, we want to understand their long-term
vision and their ability to adapt, not what operating margins will be
in the next few months.
We then support these management teams to invest
in their companies’ future.
Long-termism isn’t limited to our investment process.
It’s also relevant to developing deep client relationships,
our longest relationship dating back to 1909.
Building long-lasting relationships can help us understand our clients’
changing needs and maximise our chances of delivering excellent
outcomes on their behalf.
And long-termism extends to how we manage the business
and invest in our people, our processes and our systems.
The long-term vision that we hold across the business is
enabled by our ownership structure.
Being independent, private and wholly owned by
working partners means that we aren’t distracted by short-term
external shareholders who might have profit-maximising motivations,
or be inclined to shift focus to a changing backdrop.
As a partner of the firm, I want to be able to pass
this company on to the next generation of partners in
an even better place than it is now.
This means thinking about the long term in everything I do.