Philosophy

We believe that stocks still represent the best way to accumulate capital and reduce the effects of inflation and currency devaluation on purchasing power but this should not be construed as an indication that we only invest in equities.

We recognize the value of bonds and hard assets/commodities and remain vigilant for signs of opportunity in those and other asset classes.

When it comes to selecting targets for investment, Tate Livingstone has an unashamed focus on value. We consider paying a premium for a particular stock because it happens to be the “hot pick” of the moment to be anathema. Instead, we prefer to look at equities in which the broader market appears to have little or no interest.

This is not to say that we won’t consider buying into a trend of a stock that we believe has much more upside potential but if we do, we carefully gauge the right moment at which to take a position. We like companies that have solid fundamentals like strong cashflow, good management, sustainable operations, predictable growth and attractive dividends. We also place regard companies where the management team are also stakeholders as being good candidates for investment.

Tate Livingstone is a proponent of ethical investing, considering companies that have strong corporate responsibility policies as being more capable of decreasing their exposure to risk on the extremely rare occasions that issues like environmental damage, fraud, reputational injury, cost increases and lost production might impact upon their share price.

Despite their volatility in recent years, we appreciate the efficiency of the world’s primary stock markets. While the largest companies are so intensely scrutinized that it can often be difficult to identify value plays, the sheer integrity of the governance in advanced markets means there is always a steady flow of new and exciting companies coming to market.

That said, we do also look closely at emerging markets and the large companies that trade in Asia and Latin America.