The current Cannon Asset Managers team took over the management of your assets, and the business, just under a year ago and our primary focus during this time has been on the active management of your assets. It has been some time since we have reached out to you regarding your portfolio and the operational developments in the business – this is an area that we will be rectifying, as we strive to improve our client management services and customer experience.
In pursuit of this goal , we have made the following operational changes. Ms Puseletso Phetoe has joined our business as a Business Development Executive Director and brings to the team a wealth of experience in client engagement and business development. Ms Phetoe has over 15 years in the financial services industry and has worked at some of the country’s largest institutions including Alex Forbes and Old Mutual. Mr Deshan Naidoo, our Chairman, will be taking on a more active presence in the day-to-day operation of Cannon to streamline backend procedures and assist with our adoption of technology. The business is also partnering with a digital marketing team to ensure that our engagement with you through our digital platform is not overlooked and that the good work being done by the investment team is shared with a wider audience. We also want to increase transparency and acknowledge decisions that have not worked out, to this end, we share that Mr. Simpiwe Mayekiso is no longer part of the management team and we are in the process of shortlisting suitable candidates to fulfil the Chief Executive role – we want the new incumbent to be a custodian of our vision and we will take the time to ensure proper fit to our culture.
On operations, we are glad to report that we have actively been working on a solution to reduce the cost of your custodian and brokerage fees, thereby increasing your net return, whilst enhancing our ability to provide you with superior digital access to your investments. We will be making a formal announcement on this change in the coming weeks.
Investment and Market Outlook:
“Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat” Napoleon Hill
The current global macro-economic and investment landscape is filled with factors that keep us up at night. In fact, a prolonged study of the current environment can be quite depressing. The reality for investors around the world is that the easy money has been made. In other words, given the current inflation outlook (the US and Europe at multi-decade highs), the ongoing supply chain disruptions, monetary policy tightening and a decrease in globalisation, we are likely heading into a low (but not necessarily continuously negative) return environment for some time. In a low return world, alpha (returns in excess of the benchmark) is the only way to achieve decent returns.
The performance of our portfolios has undoubtably been affected by the global dynamics, however, we are encouraged by the performance relative to our benchmarks, as this is an indication of the robustness of our risk management processes.
Our portfolios’ performance as at June 2022:
In managing our clients’ assets, we endeavour to be successful on two fronts: to generate an appropriate investment return over time, and to do so with reduced volatility. Our investment horizon is long-term in nature. We believe the greatest risks not to be volatility-based, but performance based. We consider ‘risk’ to be made up of three elements over the long term: the risk of losing money, the risk of not performing ahead of the benchmark, and the risk of our strategy performing worse than alternative strategies. Our process is designed to cater for and diminish each of the risks associated with portfolio management.
Our track record is built on an investment philosophy and style that promises sustainable performance. Our investment process and business model are not dependent on personalities or specific individuals. Nor are we beholden to any one investment style: growth, value, momentum, yield, quality and size factors all feature in our investment approach, and we incorporate all these styles, to greater and lesser degrees, in response to market conditions.
The investment industry is in an almost-constant state of change, which means we never stop learning from our decisions, the experiences of others and the world at large. At the same time, our time-tested investment philosophy, and our ability to continuously develop our process (through improved data, refined models and deeper knowledge) gives our investment team a strength that translates into sustainable investment results.
We believe that the current market volatility presents an opportunity to acquire some well-run, world-class businesses both domestically and globally, at incredibly attractive prices. It is our view that despite the negative rhetoric and actual overall lacklustre performance of global markets thus fair in 2022, there are definitely pockets of opportunity which beg to be pursued. This requires a discerning approach to investing. As Richard Bernstein of Bernstein Advisors succinctly summarised: “2022 is likely to be difficult year for investors. Read that sentence carefully. We think 2022 might be difficult year for investors… Not necessarily for investing…2022, though, may be a year during which investors need blinders and earplugs to successfully invest”
Should you require any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@cannonassets.co.za.
Yours sincerely,
Cannon Asset Managers
e: info@cannonassets.co.za
18 Rivonia Road, Illovo, Sandton, 2196
Cannon Asset Managers (Pty) Ltd (Reg. No. 2000/025176/07) is a licensed financial services provider (FSP No. 736).