Investment Strategy
Welcome to the latest edition of the Angles & Perspectives - Q1 2026
In this edition, we discuss how our research process leads us to come to independent conclusions that challenge established ideas, helping us to construct more robust portfolios and delivering better long-term outcomes for our clients as a result. In the first article, Head of Research Kevin Cousins discusses our differentiated view on oil and expands on the role energy counters fulfil in our portfolios. Chief Investment Officer John Gilchrist unpacks whether a ‘buy the dip’ philosophy is likely to reward investors this time around, while Fund Manager Marc Beckenstrater unpacks why a quality investment strategy has disappointed investors over the past few years.
We patiently apply our 3M investment process – grounded in our in-depth and independent research – with the aim of finding an inherent quality the market is overlooking. These overlooked quality assets often reside outside the popular areas of the market, and it requires independent thinking and an open-minded approach to consider investment in such unloved and unpopular areas of the market. However, such an approach can richly reward those who are not afraid to take a differentiated view that runs contrary to the popular consensus, as undervalued assets also provide a margin of safety to our portfolios that helps to improve the overall investor experience. By constructing robust portfolios that offer valuable diversification benefits to our clients, we ensure that our funds remain well positioned to continue rewarding investors as market conditions change. In this edition, we shed more light on the independent thinking that often leads us to take a different viewpoint to the popular consensus.
In the first article – Depletion rates and oil: Running faster and faster to stand still – Head of Research Kevin Cousins highlights how finding assets with some unappreciated quality at low prices is the foundation for our portfolios. In late 2025, that was a good description of the energy sector, and in this article, we explain the thinking that led us to invest in energy stocks. We also discuss an alternative way to think about the volatility and timing of returns from the energy sector, highlighting the risk mitigation role these counters play in our portfolios.
Next, in When markets panic, there are opportunities to pick up good stocks at great valuations, Chief Investment Officer John Gilchrist shares how a knee-jerk approach that involves buying all market dips indiscriminately is not advised, with the ability to distinguish temporary uncertainty from more material longer-term impacts becoming ever more crucial.
Lastly, Fund Manager Marc Beckenstrater asks: Is quality investing a trap? He unpacks why, despite being an intuitively appealing idea, quality investing has failed to deliver to investors’ expectations over the past few years. He points out that while quality businesses remain exceptional capital allocators over full cycles, over shorter periods, quality indices are vulnerable to losing sight of the fact that the starting price at which an asset is acquired is one of the key determinants of the long-term outcomes that investors achieve.
We trust that you will find these articles insightful, and their guidance valuable in these turbulent times.
Performance to 31 March 2026
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Local unit trust summary
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Global unit trust summary
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