Why General Insurers get free money and why we hold ICICI Lombard
General insurance is simply the business of receiving premiums upfront and paying claims at a later date. This timing difference creates a negative working capital cycle and allows general insurers to deploy and earn investment income on the policyholders’ funds (float) in the interim period. A well-run general insurer is able to consistently raise float […]
The day the growth trade topped
Here’s another piece from the Ritholtz stable, this time from the CEO Joshua Brown, who picks on from where Ben Carlson left (a piece we featured in last week’s 3L&3S), on whether indeed rising interest rates hurt stock markets or is it just another story we like to ascribe to what are largely random movements? Brown reckons […]
Some of the adult raja betas and rani bityas of the newly rich Indian are bored, woke and high maintenance. But papa and mam still pay the bills
Recent protests on social and political issues in India have featured many young Indians from well-to-do families. In some ways, it is heartening to see these kids stand up for their beliefs and voice their opinion against the establishment freely. However, Monika Halan, an authority on personal finance and the author of the bestselling book […]
Auto companies break gender barriers, hire more women for shop floor roles
Over the past few years, many of the CEOs of the companies we have invested in have made it clear that they prefer to have more women workers in their factories. Over the past years the labour contractors we speak to gauge the strength of demand for factory labour have told us that several large […]
How to be angry
The title might be a bit misleading. The piece still largely talks about how not to be angry by providing us an understanding of the factors that drive anger in the first place, how we can manage them so we avoid the adverse consequences of rage. However, the piece also talks about how it is […]
‘I’ve never seen anything like this’: Chaos strikes global shipping
Over the past six months we have heard several of our clients who run export-import dependent businesses in India complain that the movement of global freight has been disrupted by Covid-19 and why it is making it difficult for them to get key inputs. Ironically, as the post-Covid economic recovery gathers steam, this problem is […]
The rich vs the very, very rich: the Wentworth golf club rebellion
Samanth Subramanian has emerged as one of the best young, non-fiction writers of our era. He can take any subject – from Jimmy Anderson to Covid-19 masks to golf clubs – and produce a riveting read. In this piece he explains how a Chinese takeover of a prestigious English golf club, Wentworth, exposed an affluent […]
The Strong Shall Inherit The Post-Covid World
Marcellus’ Little Champs portfolio witnessed revenue growth of 10% YoY and PBT growth of 35% YoY in 3QFY21 (which compares favourably to 1% and 13% respectively seen in 2QFY21). This growth is driven not only by a recovery in the underlying industry demand but also by market share gains from weaker peers. Furthermore, thanks to […]
The Man who Abandoned Value
With the rate at which growth stocks are falling, this article might be past its expiry date. But this is a story of an investor – Arne Alsin, who pursued ‘value investing’ in the traditional sense of the term, even successfully at that during the dotcom bubble, then saw value investing bleed post the Lehman […]
How to Stop Overthinking Everything
We all end up making myriad decisions in our daily lives, be it our workplace or matters related to family or home. At times, we tend to get caught up a bit too much in the nuances trying to make the perfect decision as result end up not just losing productivity but also suffering from […]
How Does the Stock Market Perform When Interest Rates Rise?
Over the past couple of weeks, the markets globally have been volatile on the back of rising interest rates. Whilst central banks remain committed to keeping rates low for extended periods, bond markets have started factoring in rising inflation on the back of a strong economic recovery and hence demanding higher real interest rates, reflecting […]
How to have better arguments online
It is perplexing how conversations on social media tend to be a lot more vitriolic than those we experience offline with the same individuals. Apparently, there is a reason for it and understanding the same can help us have better and more civilised conversations online. This piece in The Guardian is an adaptation from Ian […]
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