Ascending, Descending, and Just Keeping Steady
A Message from Chairman, Tom Kennedy, to wrap up the year 2022.
Maintaining a Strong Stance in Uncertain Times
In high school, a coach taught us that with our feet firmly planted, shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, heads up and eyes fully alert, there was nothing that couldn’t be handled by whatever the other team threw our way. There is something about today’s investment climate that reminds me of that advice.
That 2022 Feeling
2022 was a fascinating year from an investment standpoint, an economic standpoint, and a geo-political standpoint with the pandemic continuing to impact the global community. With all those factors at play, it's no wonder that the 2021 appetite for growth at any cost came to a halt and many investors started moving to cash.
At Kensington, we made several significant investments in companies that have excellent management and business growth opportunities. We think the cost of acquisitions, which makes up some of the growth prospects, will continue to move in our favour for the next few years. We also think that because of global uncertainties and the cost of money, the organic growth opportunities will be somewhat muted.
Selling businesses may also be more difficult in this uncertain environment than it was in the past few years. But our experience has been that companies with strong competitive positions and good management are both easy to sell, and a pleasure to own. We hope to realize on some of those investments in the coming year.
Best Wishes for 2023
For all of you, we hope the coming year is healthy and happy. We are deeply appreciative that you have put your trust in us. It is our view that the current fears in the marketplace will eventually dissipate. Having lived through similar (but always a little different!) cycles in the past, we also believe that there will be opportunities in part triggered by this uncertainty. One final and important coaching tip I remember is to always be ready to move fast!
Happy holidays to you and yours and we look forward to sharing some positive news as 2023 unfolds.
Visit us at www.kcpl.ca for more information. Follow us on Twitter @kensingtonfunds.
