Our position Our portfolios are made up of businesses that cater to the domestic consumer. We say that if "you cannot eat it, drink it, wear it, wash with it or shop in it...we are not interested". We regard the rise of the local consumer in the emerging world to be a multi-decade event. We have noted the extent to which the consumer sector has generated alpha in the developed world. Our studies show the emerging world to be no different. We look for dominant, brand-owning consumer companies which, by virtue of their cash generative / low asset intensive / master-of-their-destiny business models, tend to grow shareholder value over the long term. Typically these businesses pay generous dividends. We are not “market timers”. We have learned the hard way that sectors such as manufacturing, telecoms, construction, commodity producers, property developers, banks, etc., tend to destroy shareholder value over the medium to long term. We regard stock market indices as a distraction.