W&F Issue 12 2018

Wealth & Finance International - Issue 12- 2018 5 London-based Tickr enables people to invest in businesses addressing issues such as gender equality and climate change, giving greater control of an individual’s ‘investment footprint’. New App to Increase Investment in Worldwide Publicly Listed Companies Addressing Social Problems Tickr, a new Impact Investment platform launching today will enable people to invest their money in glob- ally listed businesses that are making positive social change. The company identifies and vets publicly listed businesses from estab- lished stock exchanges around the world to offer investments in compa- nies that are committed to addressing large-scale social and environmental problems. The Tickr app, available today but by invitation only for iOS us- ers, currently hosts hundreds of global businesses that offer growth potential and social relevance. Tickr has been developed to meet the emerging demand of a new generation of potential investors, who are specifically interested in growing businesses with a social impact benefit and are concerned about their investment footprint. Making investment accessible for first- time investors, the company is initially offering three groups of investments based on big social issues affecting the world today: Climate Change, So- cial Impact and Disruptive Technology. Users can choose to invest in: 1. Climate Change, which directs money to companies address- ing issues like clean water and renewable energy. 2. Social Impact, investing in busi- nesses tackling areas such as gender equality and inclusion. 3. Disruptive Technology, investing in businesses developing tech- based solutions to big social problems and to make viable benefits for wide sects of the population. 4. A combination fund of the above. With a minimum investment of £5, people can select a risk level that they feel comfortable with, and set up a regular amount of investment that they can afford. By driving investment into positive, for profit enterprises, Tickr gives investors the opportunity to earn money whilst supporting a more positive and prosperous future. Tickr co-founder Tom McGillycuddy said, “As experienced investment management professionals, we saw a growing demand for ‘Impact Invest- ments’ and increased transparency in people’s portfolios. We wanted to give people the opportunity to invest in companies that are addressing social problems in some way and to control their investment footprint. This is no charity – we search for busi- nesses that are profitable, growing and making impact in a significant way. Often the two go hand in hand.” Tickr is committed to showcasing a wide variety of companies from around the world. Each of these is addressing specific social and envi- ronmental issues. For example, CSL Ltd – an Australian biotech company that specialises in vaccinations and curing serious and rare diseases – is in the Gender Equality theme with 56% of its workforce, and 40% of the company’s management, being women. Also Xylem Inc in the Global Water theme - a leading global water technology company committed to developing innovative solutions to the world’s water challenges. Zak Smerczak, portfolio manager and analyst at Comgest, the independent, international asset management group focused on quality growth investing, shares his outlook for 2019 and believes investors should be cautious on markets, rigorously bottom-up when considering valuations and focused on the longevity of growth opportunities. Global 2019 Outlook: Caution on Markets, Optimism on Bottom-Up Opportunities “As we prepare to welcome 2019, our stance is one of caution - paying attention to both valuations and the longevity of growth opportunities. We have already sought to reduce and sold several stocks held - in some cases for over a decade - in our global fund (Comgest Growth World) as the longer-term growth trajectory looks to be less certain, but more importantly where valuations look somewhat expensive on historical relative terms. This was particularly true of Information Technology and industrial automation names. “However, in our opinion, there are many robust business models capable of delivering visible, stable and sustainable earnings growth for long-term investors in most economic environments, irrespective of location or industry. One area in which we have recently found new ideas, or reinforced existing ones, is US and European consumer staples, which became unloved as fears of inflation, raw material price pressure, and channel disruption came to the fore. Both Church & Dwight (a new idea) and Unilever (an existing idea) are just such stocks. We believe that both offer consistent, visible, high single-digit, top-line growth with improving margins from cost optimisa- tion and operational leverage as they scale into new markets, helping them deliver low but consistent double-digit bottom line earnings growth. “Similarly, we believe leading medical device suppliers like Medtronic and Becton Dickinson offer consistent and very visible high-growth opportunities driven by innovative product launch- es, emerging market penetration, and competitive pricing (albeit with pockets of pressure through some healthcare reforms). We have con- tinued to reinforce our investments in these businesses through the year taking advantage of very favourable valuations. “Looking at country-specific oppor- tunities in 2019, it is our view that Japan continues to offer new ideas in what is a very low-covered market where consensus forecasts, in our experience, generally underestimate the growth potential. Retailers such as Fast Retailing (owner of the Uniqlo brand), Seven & I and Don Quijote are all benefiting from stable improve- ments in store sales growth, new store rollouts, and margin expansion. In addition, all are benefiting from continued growth of inbound tourism, particularly from China, which in Fast Retailing’s case is also a country in which they are building stores and growing strongly. “No matter what happens on the macro side, we believe it’s possible to find visible, stable and compounding growth investments at attractive valu- ations to hunt in the New Year.” News