Our quality growth philosophy aims to unearth exceptional businesses. They demonstrate superior growth prospects, sustainable competitive advantages, high returns on invested capital and that have low or no net debt.

We believe that over time, earnings drive share prices. Through in-depth research we aim to understand the sustainability of a company’s earnings growth.

Ten golden rules

We are highly selective. Our investible universe contains 50-70 global businesses which we believe demonstrate the pure quality growth characteristics we seek.

Without exception we follow ten golden rules to determine which companies share these traits.

Watch: 01 Superior industry growth
Watch: 02 Consistent industry leadership
Watch: 03 Scalable business model
Watch: 04 Sustainable competitive advantage
Watch: 05 Strong organic growth
Watch: 06 Wide geographic & customer diversification
Watch: 07 Low capital intensity & high return on invested capital
Watch: 08 Solid financial position
Watch: 09 Transparent accounts
Watch: 10 Excellent management & governance
01
Superior industry growth
02
Consistent industry leadership
03
Scalable business model
04
Sustainable competitive advantage
05
Strong organic growth
06
Wide geographic & customer diversification
07
Low capital intensity & high return on invested capital
08
Solid financial position
09
Transparent accounts
10
Excellent management & governance

Investment process

Research

We aim to know companies inside out to understand how enduring their earnings are.

Our team studies each company’s industry and competitors, analysing growth drivers and competitive advantages. We scrutinise management teams to ensure they have a clear long-term strategy for investing in their company’s future.

The companies we seek are rare and typically generate earnings across market cycles, so we take our time to find them. Analysts will cover no more than eight companies, allowing for deep insight into every business.

The Seilern Universe

We are highly selective. We believe only up to 70 of the world’s largest listed companies fulfil our criteria to qualify for inclusion in the Seilern investment universe.

This universe is at the core of our investment process. It represents the pool of companies that we can add to our portfolios. Following rigorous research and robust debate, our investment team co-curates the Seilern universe.

Portfolio structure

Our in-depth research ensures that a company only enters the portfolio if we have a great deal of conviction in it. In each of the Seilern funds, the portfolios aim to hold only 20-25 companies.

As long-term investors, we avoid the temptation of quick profits. We do not buy and sell stocks over the short term, which keeps portfolio turnover low. The businesses in our universe are driven by structural growth drivers and tend to be less cyclical. This also means companies rarely leave our universe.

Insights

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