Ian Liddle
Articles by Ian Liddle
2023 Q3 Comments from our chair
Daimler-Benz introduced the Mercedes-Benz S-Class to South Africa in 1973 – the same year that an ambitious 35-year-old with a Harvard MBA and eight years of...
Allan Gray appoints new chief operating officer
Allan Gray today announced the appointment of Mahesh Cooper as chief operating officer. Cooper will officially join on 3 May, taking over from Rob Formby, w...
New directors appointed
The shareholders of our main operating company in South Africa and our group holding company have approved new appointments to both companies’ boards...
Annual report from the outgoing Chief Investment Officer
Adapted from the Chief Investment Officer’s comments, which will appear in the Allan Gray Unit Trust Annual Report, 2015. These are Ian Liddle’s final Annual...
SA mining and the sunk cost fallacy
Ian Liddle discusses why the challenges in South African mining provide an interesting case study of the 'sunk cost fallacy', a behavioural bias that sees us...
What do low global bond yields mean for South African investors?
Adapted from the Chief Investment Officer’s comments, which will appear in the Allan Gray Unit Trust Annual Report, 2014. More than half of global government...
The impact of events relating to African Bank on Allan Gray Unit Trusts
African Bank’s failure has had a small, negative impact on our Allan Gray Equity, Balanced and Stable Funds. In this GrayIssue we attempt to address a broad...
Diamonds in the rough
Small- and mid-cap companies make up 16% of the FTSE/JSE All Share Index, but 25-30% of our clients' South African equity holdings. Although many of these...
Time to review your equity exposure?
Adapted from the Chief Investment Officer’s comments, which will appear in the Allan Gray Unit Trust Annual Report, 2013. We aim to grow our clients’ wealth...
Gold and platinum mines: 'Eating sardines' or 'trading sardines'?
"There is the old story about the market craze in sardine trading when the sardines disappeared from their traditional waters in Monterey, California. The...
Not the time to relax risk appetite
In his 1988 annual letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett wrote: ‘We have no idea how long the excesses will last, nor do we know what will change the...
Building an investment team that thrives (not just survives) on generational transition
We aim to provide you with benchmark-beating investment returns for at least the next 100 years. But we can succeed in this ambition only for as long as we a...
Responsible Investing 2012
The Code for Responsible Investing in South Africa ('CRISA') was introduced in 2011 as an industry-wide initiative. Allan Gray supports CRISA's principles an...
Looking back at 2011 and preparing for the years ahead
South Africa has thus far been spared the crushing austerity measures affecting Europe. Three important factors have been in our favour so far: a decade of...
Foreign exposure in the Allan Gray Stable Fund
The long-term track record of the Allan Gray Stable Fund shows returns well ahead of its benchmark and satisfactory capital stability. Nevertheless, the Fund...
Welcoming the world to South Africa (but are they here to stay...?)
For most of the time since our first democratic election in 1994, foreign investors have been net buyers of companies listed on the JSE. They are now...
