Investing in Australian small companies where we have conviction on medium-term earnings delivery that are supported by sustainable business models ‘Agnostic’ investment style based on the belief that earnings drive share price performance Sustainability factors are integral to our investment process Focused investment process designed to create an ‘all weather portfolio’ comprised of stocks that rank highly on our earnings, sustainability and risk measures   We believe it is through combining our earnings-based valuation approach with a focus on sustainability that the strategy will deliver enhanced investment performance in Australian small companies.Rather than defining ourselves by a particular investment style,…

Looking back at 2024, history will record that the Australian equity market produced a slightly higher than 'average' total return of around 11%. However, that very “normal” looking return hides a huge dichotomy in the equity market: between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'.

In 2025, geopolitical and economic uncertainties highlight the appeal of defensive infrastructure assets. While inflation is under control, its unpredictability persists, making infrastructure with inflation pass-through mechanisms more attractive. Our preference remains for monopolistic infrastructure assets that are undervalued, benefiting from regulatory protections, strong long-term contracts, and inflation linkages. Additionally,  we see substantial organic growth opportunities for the sector, predominantly driven by the energy transition but also supported by long term investment opportunities in water, transport mobility and digitalisation.

Find out more about the team of professionals at Maple-Brown Abbott managing your investment portfolios.

At the forefront of active equity market investing for forty years. We manage investment portfolios for institutional, high net-worth and retail clients in Australia, and have clients across the world including in North America, Europe and Asia.

Over the 2024 calendar year, the performance of the Australian small caps market relative to both domestic large caps and global equity markets has been underwhelming. We believe there are a number of tailwinds in place as risk appetite returns to the space following a challenging few years. In our opinion 2025 has all the hallmarks of being ‘the year of the Australian small caps’.

2024 may best be remembered as the year that AI hype went mainstream. From an infrastructure perspective the key impact has been on power markets, as the challenge in providing sufficient power to support the needed growth in data centers has become very apparent.

Amid recent news headlines regarding corporate governance shortcomings at founder-led companies, the need for rigorous governance standards has never been more critical. This article outlines the key governance principles investors should consider when investing in founder-led businesses. Additionally, it addresses both the positive and negative indicators of corporate governance at founder-led businesses as well as the key areas where investors should consider greater flexibility in governance practices to preserve the advantages that exist at companies led by its founders.

Given ongoing heightened geopolitical tensions, de-globalisation, and onshoring of defence production and supply chains, we see increasing global defence spending as being a structural growth thematic. Codan Limited (CDA) is positively exposed to this theme via their expansion of communication services for military and emergency response.