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<p><strong>As with any investment, your capital is at risk. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>Ross Mathieson (RM): </strong>Why does someone who’s led global equity teams and had a successful career managing large mandates come back to Baillie Gifford after more than a decade away? That’s the question we’re going to explore today.</p>
<p>This video is part of our series where we introduce members of our team and the unique perspectives they bring to our investment approach. In the first episode we heard from Hattie Oliver about her investigative research and why she sometimes ends up calling Australian used car dealers in the middle of the night.</p>
<p>Today I’m joined by someone whose talents I know very well, having worked alongside him before, Alistair Way. Alistair is rejoining Baillie Gifford after 18 years away, during which time he built an impressive career managing portfolios, leading teams, and holding head of equities roles. He first began his career here, and we’re delighted to welcome him back as a senior member of the Global Income Growth Team. In this conversation I want to understand what drew him back, what he’s learned along the way, and how his experiences and strengths will help our ability to find the uncommon compounders that deliver durable dividend growth for our clients.</p>
<p>Welcome Alistair. Let’s begin with Why did you come back to Baillie Gifford after 18 years away?</p>
<p><strong>Alistair Way (AW):</strong> Thanks, Ross. It’s really good to be back. Having had a variety of experience in the investment industry for the last few years, then it feels like coming home. And there are probably three things that stand out about Baillie Gifford. And having an external perspective really reinforces that.</p>
<p>So firstly, the incredibly in-depth, long-term nature of the research we do here. The time, patience, and resources to look at companies from a multi-year perspective rather than a short-term perspective and to uncover all the information we can, making the right judgment. </p>
<p>Secondly, the very collaborative culture and client-focused nature of everything we do within the company.</p>
<p>And thirdly, the stability of the structure at Baillie Gifford. As we both know, when you’re working in places where senior management changes, where there’s new CIOs, where there’s maybe a merger. It is really hard to maintain a consistent investment philosophy and very hard to keep investors focused on the day job of forming long-term investment views.</p>
<p><strong>RM: </strong>And you’ve worked on a range of different strategies throughout your career. What was it that drew you in about the team as a team you chose to join?</p>
<p><strong>AW: </strong>Well, aside from the pleasure of working with you personally again, Ross, the main thing is the very distinctive process and the sort of companies we’re looking for here in the team. </p>
<p>Looking for high-quality companies with strong franchises who can compound their earnings, cash flow and dividends for decades rather than quarters. The big range of inputs we use into that, you mentioned our investigative reporter, equally the sources we use from academia and industry sources for helping us make the right judgment and the diversity of things we look at. I think the way global markets are at the moment, very short-term focused, incredibly concentrated in a small number of stocks. I believe it’s genuinely in the best interest of clients to look more broadly for opportunities, get off the beaten track, look at companies that aren’t hitting the headlines at the moment, but have probably stronger longer-term prospects in compounding cash flows.</p>
<p><strong>RM: </strong>And these special companies, like you say, they’re hard to uncover. From your perspective, what is the best way to go about identifying these companies?</p>
<p><strong>AW:</strong> Certainly looking in a range of places over my career, I’ve had the privilege of looking at European equities, Japanese small caps, many years covering global emerging markets, awarding once you do. </p>
<p>Secondly, the process of finding them is tough. There’s no easy way about them. It involves a lot of hard work, a lot of investigating, lots of looking off the beaten track, lots of cross-checking sources.</p>
<p>Thirdly, the importance of focus. So spending your time as an investor, as an investment team, looking in the right places, staying focused on company research, not getting too distracted by macro or short-term or market events.</p>
<p>I think certainly these views are very complementary with the team and equally over the course of my career I’ve looked at many of the stocks which are key holdings or key areas of focus for us on the team now. So companies like TSMC, Nintendo I’ve looked at over decades through a variety of economic product cycles. Companies like Anta, USS I know really well. So hopefully these will all be complementary to the team’s skill set.</p>
<p><strong>RM: </strong>We hold a very strong belief that to help identify these durable growth companies, looking through a dividend growth lens is a fantastic signal. How applicable do you think that signal of dividend growth and the commitment to dividend growth is in many of the different markets or sectors that you looked at previously?</p>
<p><strong>AW:</strong> I think it is really generally applicable. It’s fair to say that payout rates do vary by geography. Look at the difference between, say, Korea and Taiwan. They vary by sector. But normalising fees variances is still a really important indicator of, firstly, management discipline, management capital allocation over the cycle, and secondly, the durability of a company’s growth prospects and competitive advantage. </p>
<p>I feel over my career, I’ve invested through many cycles. So we had the Asian financial crisis in 1997, global financial crisis in 2008. And it’s through periods like that when the resilience of companies is tested and the huge variety of outcomes between companies with strong fundamentals and balance sheets and those that don’t become really apparent, both in terms of operational performance and in terms of share price performance. So it can take a crisis to really show the true measure of a company.</p>
<p>I think the last decade or decade plus has been quite unusual in that we’ve not really had any sharp contractions aside from the coronavirus 2020 lockdown episodes. So it feels that many market participants these days have not really invested through tough economic times. And even those who have, have got quite short-term memories and that translates into how we’ll stop markets, a few things at the moment. But it’s in our clients’ interests to take the longer view and look at resilience.</p>
<p><strong>RM: </strong>Yeah, absolutely. And as you open this next chapter on your career, what most excites you for what lies ahead?</p>
<p><strong>AW: </strong>The main thing, Ross, I mean, I’ve had a huge variety of roles within asset management, but the key thing that still excites me and interests me is looking at companies, forming views on stocks, meeting management, discussing it with a talented, committed team. So, I truly believe the uniquely resourced, diverse team we have here is very well positioned to deliver good client outcomes for a long time to come. </p>
<p>On a personal level, I’m looking forward to learning a lot from yourself and other investors on the team and more broadly at Baillie Gifford and hopefully some of my experience over the years will come in useful for the team and I can equally help some of the younger investors to develop.</p>
<p><strong>RM: </strong>Brilliant. Well, welcome on board. We are very excited to have you, to learn from your experience, to see the stocks that you find from off the beaten track. So very excited and grateful to have you on the team.</p>
<p>I hope this conversation gives you a sense of how we think about building a well-resourced team with complementary skills, a clear, consistent philosophy, and a commitment to in-depth research that goes far beyond the numbers.</p>
<p>As Alistair has highlighted, our goal remains the same, to deliver strong long-term returns in as smooth a fashion as possible, with resilience when markets get tougher. This is possible because of the diverse strengths of the people we have on the team. We’ll continue this series by introducing you to more colleagues, each with their own way of contributing to our investment process. For now, thank you, Alistair, and thank you for watching.</p>
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<h3>Risk factors</h3>
<p>The views expressed should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment. They reflect opinion and should not be taken as statements of fact nor should any reliance be placed on them when making investment decisions.</p>
<p>This communication was produced and approved in October 2025 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time of writing and may not reflect current thinking.</p>
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<p>All investment strategies have the potential for profit and loss, your or your clients’ capital may be at risk. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.</p>
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