Investing in shares is a simple business – only two actions required

Adrian Clayton is one of the country’s asset management veterans. We met in the 1990s when he was with Appleton and stayed in touch while he successfully ran portfolios for PSG.

When a close friend who owned Northstar died, Adrian moved over to run what is now a 21 year old business.

He provided some canny insights during the Momentum Investment Summit this week. Investing is really quite simple, Clayton says.

It boils down to just two actions  – correctly valuing a company; and only buying into the business below that valuation. Acquiring the stake with a big margin of safety and having the patience for its price to “revert to the mean’.

The trick, of course, is getting the calculation of value right. And then having the conviction to stick with the assessment despite all the noise.

Right now his favourite stock is hotel group Sun International. Despite the perceived threats of online gambling and Airbnb, it’s just too cheap, says Clayton. I’ll be doing some homework on this one – who can resist picking up a dollar for 80c?

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