At the 2025 Pinnacle Insights Series, Dougal Maple-Brown posed the question, “Do you have enough Value in your portfolio?” Heightened market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty has many advisers considering whether they should be more defensive with the Australian equities part of their client portfolios.
BEc, LLB (Hons), FFIN, CFA
Dougal joined Maple-Brown Abbott in 2001 as an equity analyst. He is currently a portfolio manager and equities analyst. Dougal was an Executive Director from July 2009 to October 2018. Dougal’s responsibilities include equity analysis and portfolio management, including managing a large number of institutional and retail accounts. He attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2014. Prior to joining Maple-Brown Abbott Dougal worked in a national law firm and at an international investment bank.
Dougal joined Maple-Brown Abbott in 2001 as an equity analyst. He is currently a portfolio manager and equities analyst. Dougal was an Executive Director from July 2009 to October 2018. Dougal’s responsibilities include equity analysis and portfolio management, including managing a large number of institutional and retail accounts. He attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2014. Prior to joining Maple-Brown Abbott Dougal worked in a national law firm and at an international investment bank.
Board and committee membership:
Asset Allocation Committee
Dougal
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Investment Insights
8 min
The case for holding resources in an Australian small caps fund
Australian small cap resource stocks are often viewed as more speculative relative to their industrial counterparts. While historical returns generated by Australian small resources have been more volatile, periods of ‘super-normal’ returns have been demonstrated, resulting from outperformance in select commodity cycles. The ability to consistently pick commodity cycles is inherently difficult and not a focus of our investment process. However, we believe there is significant alpha-generating potential at a stock specific level, although investors need to be selective at the smaller end of the Australian small resources market.
5 min
The gold rush in the small caps market
Gold prices have been on an upward trajectory for the past two years, with a weak Australian dollar boosting the price in local currency even further. While we don’t foresee this rapid rise continuing in the short term, the investment proposition for many Australian small cap gold stocks still appears attractive, even if prices were to pull back 10-20%.
6 min
Australian Equities March 2025 update
The March quarter saw considerable economic and political turmoil following the inauguration of President Trump and unsurprisingly markets responded accordingly. During the quarter, we saw a strong reversal of performance where the laggards of 2024 performed strongly in the the recent market correction.
7 min
Australian small caps market – key investment themes from the March 2025 quarter
Many of the popular investment themes and crowded stock holdings driving the Australian small cap market in the 2024 calendar year have reversed in the March 2025 quarter. Given the expectation of lower domestic interest rates going forward, many of the high-flying technology, quality and growth exposed companies have been used as funding sources as investors rotate into cheaper quality stocks and/or value/cyclical exposed companies with improving earnings momentum. The question for investors is whether this is just a blip or is the rotation more sustainable? This thematic shift and heightened market volatility is creating increased value adding opportunities for active Australian small cap managers that have a competitive information advantage.
