133. Investing in global brands and regional champions

Laura Bottega, managing director and lead portfolio specialist on the Morgan Stanley Global Brands fund, discusses the growth vs value conundrum, rising inflation and the benefits of scale. She highlights the companies that, during the pandemic, used the time to invest in their digital offerings, to expand e-commerce and social media and to advance the new trend of hyper-personalisation, and discusses potential future opportunities in ‘regional champions’.
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The investment team behind Morgan Stanley Global Brands have a mantra: ‘don’t lose money’, which will possibly be as comforting to investors as the familiar names that can be found in the portfolio. The fund is a very concentrated portfolio of high-quality global companies, with features such as strong network benefits and brands, or licenses and permits that can provide an advantage over competitors. They will also look for companies benefiting from economies of scale and leading market distribution.

Read more about Morgan Stanley Global Brands

What’s covered in this podcast:

  • Whether value will continue to outperform growth longer term [0:31]
  • If inflation could change the outlook for companies in the fund [2:38]
  • How strong brands and pricing power make companies more reliable in an inflationary environment [3:43]
  • How benefits of scale helped some brands become stronger during the pandemic [4:45]
  • Whether more nationalistic tendencies could lead to local brands competing more with global brands [5:57]
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