1) Asset Management
March 2017
LGM Emerging
Markets
Risk: what really matters
LGM Investments
Recent months have been unusually eventful, characterized by a swing
in the global political landscape, U.S. dollar strength, geopolitical flash
points, demonetization in India and military coups in Turkey (among
many others), all feeding into general market nervousness and a
significant rise in volatility. This was certainly the case in emerging
markets. However, while volatility can be uncomfortable in the short
term, what is ultimately more important for achieving long-term gains is
having the discipline and patience to look beyond the short-term, and to
understand what is noise and what is real change.
Fund Manager
Rishikesh Patel
Anders Heegaard
Research Analyst
This mindset is central to how we think about risk when constructing a portfolio. “Risk”
is a very broad topic and can mean different things depending on a particular viewpoint.
Unfortunately, and all too often, risk has come to be synonymous with volatility (or standard
deviation, beta, etc.). In our opinion, this is a misperception of an important topic. While it is
very convenient to have risk boiled down to a single, understandable number like volatility,
in our view, it does not reflect much (if anything) regarding the actual risk an investor takes.
Volatility is simply a measure of variability of an asset price over time.
At LGM, we think of risk as the chance of permanent loss of capital — i.e., real, nonrecoverable cash losses. We do not believe that the volatility of a stock’s price in the market
reflects this. To help us contextualize this, we focus on three key, broad areas:
• Business risk: the sustainability of the underlying business model, i.e., whether the
business will be able to generate similar or higher cash flows 5-10 years from now and the
visibility and predictability of that cash flow stream
• Portfolio risk: any risk including liquidity, concentration and macroeconomic risks
• Valuation risk: the risk of overpaying
Contact us
Contact us
Mark D. Osterkamp
bmogam.com
Managing Director
Head of Institutional Sales & Service
bmo-global-asset-management
1-312-461-5044
mark.osterkamp@bmo.com
2) Asset Management
Secular drivers and trends
Without downplaying the importance of valuation risk, we feel
that business and then portfolio risk are the most important for the
long-term investor. Ultimately, as long-term investors, we will always
look at the quality of the business before we assess its value in our
investment process. We believe that investing in quality business
models over the long term translates into steadier, less volatile
investment results by the compounding of consistent returns. This in
turn has resulted in smoother, more consistent performance across all
our core strategies, as evidenced by our strong risk/return metrics.
For the purpose of this discussion, we will focus more on business
risk, given its relevance on our investment process. We have argued
on several occasions that long-term returns are primarily driven by
the development in cash flows. While the multiple an investor pays
is clearly important, it pales in comparison to a company’s ability
to deliver earnings and cash flows. In the extreme short-term (one
month), this multiple is the main driver of performance, explaining
as much as 85% of a stock’s returns. This number decreases to 55%
on a 1-year basis, while over 5 years just 25% of the total return
is explained by the multiple at which the stock was purchased.
Seventy-five percent of the total return is driven by development in
earnings and cash flows for investment horizons of 5 years or more;
and that proportion increases over time. The primary risk focus of
long-term investors therefore ought to be the long-term cash flow
opportunity of the company with less emphasis on the multiple one
pays for that.
While not subscribing to the “traditional” measure of risk (volatility,
beta, etc.) in favor of actual risk to capital (business risk), a fair
question to ask is: how do we assess risk tangibly? To that end, we
spend a significant amount of time understanding, analyzing and
meeting the companies in which we invest. This allows us to do
two key things: 1) understand the company and how they have,
and will, generate cash flows; and 2) build trust. This may seem
straightforward, but it is complex and nuanced, as every company is
different in emerging markets. Our investment process and definition
of quality provide us with the framework to complete this analysis,
as well as the discipline to ensure we do not compromise quality,
particularly when something may look attractively priced but is not of
high quality. We are always driven first by quality, then by value.
Spending a significant amount of time understanding,
analyzing and meeting the companies in which we
invest allows us to do two key things: 1) understand
the company and how they have, and will, generate
cash flows; and 2) build trust.
By identifying quality companies that can: deliver a predictable
and growing stream of cash flows, have a sustainable competitive
advantage, operate with strong balance sheets, use debt/leverage
March 2017
prudently and have strong management teams; we believe we can
reduce business risk within the portfolio, and as such, reduce the risk
to invested capital. For us, the lowest business risk companies are
found among dominant consumer, financial or services companies in
the less developed parts of the market. We believe that not only are
penetration rates low for many goods and services, thus providing a
favorable long-term secular demand backdrop, but within emerging
market economies there is also a high level of informality, which
raises the entry barriers substantially, and results in a benign
competitive environment, allowing the dominant companies (with a
brand, distribution or scale advantage) to generate high returns and,
as a result, strong free cash flow. This reduces business risk. We not
only consider a business’ competitive advantages: we try to assess
the durability of those advantages. We find competitive advantages
to be higher in sectors that are characterized by everyday goods,
which are stable in nature and possess pricing power, thus allowing
companies to pass on potential cost increases to consumers. Many of
our holdings operate business models that date back decades, such
as providing goods and services like banking, snack foods, infant
milk, groceries, and more.
Concluding Thoughts and Outlook:
Uncertainty seems to be the most used word in financial markets
of late. We understand that many things are not just uncertain, but
simply impossible to forecast. We therefore focus on what we can
control and predict.
In our view, the structural case for emerging markets remains firmly
in place. The UN expects that over the next 15 years, the growth in
working-age populations in emerging markets ex-China will amount
to approximately 700 million people, or the equivalent of an annual
compounded growth rate of 2% of people entering the labor force.
In addition, Boston Consulting Group estimates that between 2010
and 2030, the population in emerging market cities will expand by
1.3 billion, which alone is more than the total population of today’s
developed market cities. These secular drivers (demographics,
urbanization, more women entering the labor markets, etc.) will
continue to create the prerequisites for large and growing profit
pools that can be tapped by our holdings which specialize in
providing basic goods and services to this segment of society.
For example, the current credit penetration in Indonesia is 30%, with
less than 20% of the population having access to a bank account,
supporting the long-term investment case for our two Indonesian
financials Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat. In the Philippines, the
per capita consumption of Ready-to-Drink tea (RTD Tea) stands
at 2.1 liters per annum compared to the Asian average of 15.3
liters, providing a very strong demand backdrop for our Philippine
consumer holding URC, which dominates that category with a 74%
market share. The central investment case for all these companies
is that they benefit from the secular trends we see in emerging
2
3) Asset Management
Secular drivers and trends
markets. But more importantly, they have all established strong
competitive advantages (in the form of brands, distribution,
innovation, etc.) that allow them to generate high margins and
high returns with strong visibility as they compete in a rational and
benign competitive environment. We believe the continued strength
and dominance of these business models are the strategic reasons
to invest in emerging market companies over the long term.
While recent months have been disruptive, in our view, not much
has changed fundamentally. Donald Trump’s policy decisions and
the U.K.’s exit from the European Union will not determine whether
consumers in Asia continue to brush their teeth, open bank accounts,
eat snacks, drink tea or use hair oil. When we look back in 5-10
March 2017
years’ time, we doubt those events will be the determining factors
of the portfolio’s return.
To conclude, we are confident about the long-term prospects of our
holdings, and recent political events have not changed that. The
strategic investment case continues to look attractive for emerging
markets generally, but even more so at a stock level. As we move
through 2017, we remain optimistic. Whether the favorable secular
growth drivers and encouraging bottom-up fundamentals will be
reflected in the 2017 performance of emerging markets is anyone’s
guess, but we are confident it will result in solid returns on a 5-10
year investment horizon.
All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of principal.
Investing internationally, especially emerging markets, involves additional risks such as currency, political, accounting, economic and market risk.
This presentation may contain targeted returns and forward-looking statements. “Forward-looking statements,” can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,”
“outlook,” “project,” “estimate,” “intend,” “continue” or “believe” or the negatives thereof, or variations thereon, or other comparable terminology. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such returns and
statements, as actual returns and results could differ materially due to various risks and uncertainties. This material does not constitute investment advice. It does not have regard to the specific investment objectives,
financial situation and the particular needs of any specific person who may receive this report. Investors should seek advice regarding the appropriateness of investing in any securities or investment strategies discussed or
recommended in this report and should understand that statements regarding future prospects may not be realized. Investment involves risk. Market conditions and trends will fluctuate. The value of an investment as well as
income associated with investments may rise or fall. Accordingly, investors may receive back less than originally invested.
LGM Investments is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Montreal.
Market conditions and trends will fluctuate, which will cause the value of investments to rise and fall. Accordingly, investors may receive back less than originally invested.
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