Introducing Michael Taylor, the new Global Alpha decision maker

As with any investment, your capital is at risk. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

Ben Drury (BD): Hi Mike, so you've now officially been a decision maker in the Global Alpha Strategy for about three weeks or so. So I thought this would be a really interesting opportunity just to have a chat about your journey to this point in your career and things like what you bring to the team. So why don't we dive straight in and tell us a little bit about your career history.

Mike Taylor (MT): Thanks, Ben. And what a three weeks it's been to start. On my background, I'm quite unusual in that I've actually joined Baillie Gifford on three separate occasions. First time was 2007. I was an intern on our credit team. I then joined the graduate scheme in 2009. And as part of that, I was on our Japan team, Global Discovery, Europe and the US team. I then left in 2014, went down to London, and I rejoined as an experienced hire in 2022. For that period between 2014 and rejoining, I was at Marathon Asset Management down in London, which invests in a slightly different way. That's the broad outline of my background.

BD: So quite unusual in that sense among Baillie Gifford investors in having had experience in working for another asset management firm elsewhere. How do you think that experience shaped you as an investor?

MT: It's a great question. So there are important differences between the two firms I worked for but just before I get into that I would note that there are similarities too and they're almost more important to me really. So Marathon, like Baillie Gifford, was a long-term investor. There was a lot of bottom-up company research as well as a top-down interpretation as well. And there was a lot of emphasis placed on understanding management teams, why they did what they did, how they responded to incentives. Marathon was also a private partnership, which matters.

But then there were differences to note as well. So at Marathon, the style of investing was based in capital cycle analysis, neither value nor growth but analysing and trying to understand the ebbs and flows of competition within an industry. Where is it getting easier to make returns? Where is it getting harder? What businesses have the right to make outsized profits over the very long term? And that's slightly different to what we do at Baillie Gifford, or a difference in emphasis. It also helps you, working at a different firm, understand a little bit more about yourself and how you respond. At Marathon, one of the strap lines there was individual accountability. It was very much on you as an individual. We at Baillie Gifford do things differently and more of a focus on being collegiate.

One of the things I think Baillie Gifford does really well is facilitating that communication between teams, getting the best out of individuals. And that's the kind of environment I thrive in, I think. So I learned a little bit more about myself from that time at Marathon and how I like to work.

BD: Reflecting on either that experience specifically or sort of more personal qualities, what do you think you bring to the decision-making group and the team within Global Alpha?

MT: So a couple of things I'd highlight there. So firstly, a capital cycle lens. So I invested in that way for several years. I actually think this is something that Baillie Gifford has done pretty well over the long term, understanding the competitive positions within a growth industry. So we didn't just invest in e-commerce early, we invested in Amazon, for example.

But I bring, I think, a set of tools for analysing the ebbs and flows of competition that I'm always using, and I'll always bring that point of view to a debate. So if we're in an industry where we think competition or capital is exiting, competition's becoming a bit easier, things like we've previously invested in cruise lines, I'm very attuned to looking for the real signs of that. So where are there companies going bankrupt? Where are the consolidation and the mergers in the industry and so on? So I bring that lens. And then when I'm looking at businesses that have a very high existing return on capital, there are a set of tools I would bring and emphasise for understanding that competitive advantage. I try and look through stories, look at the evidence, bring a granular understanding to that competitive advantage.

So if that sounds a little bit technical, I would say the other angle is that I have a contrarian streak and what I mean by that is not just that I will take a debate that is popular and take the other side of it just for the sake of it. I'm actually far more interested in where there is no debate at all, where the analyst community, where other fund managers don't really care, there's not a story to be told, where I can find quiet but powerful growth stories that are neglected and therefore the valuation of the companies in this space might be more reasonable.

BD: Okay. You mentioned it's been a baptism of fire, it's been a really interesting first three weeks in the team, everything that's going on in markets around the world. What do you think is exciting about that as an evolving opportunity set? Where do you look at the portfolio now and think that this is a really interesting time to be involved and you really feel excited about where this might take us looking out over the next five years and beyond?

MT: I think my perspective here is quite interesting. So the strategy's performance has not been as good as we would have liked it to be for a number of years. It's important to acknowledge that. And we've made mistakes and at times our style has been out of favor, but I'm coming in with a I guess, a fresh set of eyes. And I'm looking at what we have in the portfolio, and I am tremendously excited by it.

So there is turbulence at the moment, but turbulence means mispricing. So we are getting the chance to add structural growth names to the portfolio at really very attractive prices, I think. At the same time, our capital allocators, companies that we think can deploy money and have a skill in doing so, they're getting the chance to do that now at a particularly exciting time.

So when I step back, I look at the Global Alpha portfolio, I see a collection of companies that I think will grow faster than the index. I have much more faith in our forecast for how we can grow than the overall index number. I see a set of very resilient companies. I think measures for our profitability, for our balance sheets are better. So if there is, if this storm is to continue, our companies will weather it better. And at the same time, the valuation premium you are paying for Global Alpha over and above the broad market is at among the lowest levels it's been in the strategy's history. So I think that's a tremendously powerful combination and I'm really optimistic for returns potential going forward.

BD: Okay, so thank you very much. Obviously a lot going on in markets at the moment and we look forward to continuing the conversations with clients over the coming months.

MT: Thanks, Ben.

Source: Revolution, MSCI. US dollars. Returns have been calculated by reducing the gross return by the highest annual management fee for the composite. 1 year figures are not annualised.

Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

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