Stephen Yiu was the keynote guest speaker at MeDirect Bank Malta’s 16th medirectalk, held recently in collaboration with Blue Whale Capital.

The theme of the event was ‘A Blank Piece of Paper’ and focused on the top performing and sustainable equities which the Blue Whale Growth Fund invests in.

Yiu is the chief investment officer at Blue Whale Capital and lead manager of the Blue Whale Growth Fund. The UCITS fund was launched in September 2020, following the original launch of the LF Blue Whale Growth Fund in 2017.

The Blue Whale Growth Fund is a long-only global equity fund focusing on developed markets.

In his presentation, Yiu gave an update on the fund and the investment markets in general,  and delved into some specific economic sectors and the reasons behind investing in equities within these segments.

He explained that the fund runs a high conviction and concentrated portfolio of around 25 to 35 high-quality businesses and highlighted the fact that the top 10 holdings in the fund account for 50 per cent of the fund.

Yiu said that the Blue Whale Growth Fund invests in high-quality businesses with an attractive valuation. The investment managers know and research these companies well, given the focus is on quality rather than quantity.  He emphasised that the research is carried out in-house, through primary sources, and following the research phase, a financial model is built in terms of the companies’ expected future performance.

Yiu focused on the performance of several well-known equities and explained the characteristics of high-quality businesses the fund invests in.

He also spoke about competitive positioning, risk of disruption, growth, macro-sensitivity, as well as the company’s balance sheet management team.

Following the talk, a question-and-answer session was held.

This medirectalk saw the return of the in-person seminars. The event was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in St Julian’s, while also being live-streamed on MeDirect Malta’s social media platforms, LinkedIn and Facebook.

This medirectalk, as well as previous ones, can be viewed here.

Medirectalk is a series of seminars organised by MeDirect Bank featuring several financial experts and asset managers sharing their views on market and investment opportunities.