Dan Brocklebank, head of UK at Bermuda-based Orbis Investments, discusses why there is value in the UK and South Korean markets, reviews some of the firm’s UK domiciled funds, and outlines his top stock picks, including those in the US.      

Dan Brocklebank at Orbis Investments recently underlined the case for investing in UK and South Korean firms in an interview with this news service, saying that they are undervalued markets.

Brocklebank is overweight in the UK and emerging markets, notably South Korea, and underweight in the US, although some of the funds have heavy exposure there.

“Japanese banks were fantastic for us but we have now rotated out of Japanese banks into Korean ones,” he said. “We came out of Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and are invested in Korea’s KB Financial.” It is the largest financial holding company in Korea by assets held, with a leading market share in the domestic retail banking sector through its subsidiary, Kookmin Bank.

“We are invested in Japan’s Nintendo but we are no longer overweight in Japan,” Brocklebank continued. â€śWe are also invested in other tech stocks, notably South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).” 

“We use a contrarian, bottoms-up investment approach, focusing on unpopular, overlooked areas of the market, where some real investment opportunities lie,” he said. “We invest in UK-listed firms but they are usually multinational like UK-listed energy firm Shell and UK retailer Next which sells clothing and footwear.” Next has stores in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and Australia. It also has franchise branches in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. “UK firms are often quite cheap,” he said. "We don't do much on fixed income." 

“Another top holding in the Orbis Global Equity fund is US tech firm QXO. We put fresh capital in that last July, and it makes up 6.7 per cent of the fund,” Brocklebank continued. “We are the largest external shareholders.” QXO is expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on January 17, 2025, when chairman and CEO Brad Jacobs will make the transfer. It will continue trading on Nasdaq until the transfer is complete. “We’re excited to list QXO’s shares on the Big Board,” Jacobs said in a note. QXO is a US tech firm focused primarily on the manufacturing, distribution and service sectors.

The Orbis UK-domiciled Global Equity Fund aims to deliver higher long-term returns than global stock markets without taking on greater risk of loss. The fund targets outperformance of the long-term returns of its benchmark. To do this, it invests in shares of publicly listed companies, which may be located anywhere in the world, in any industry.

The fund is heavily exposed to the US, followed by the UK and Continental Europe. Top 10 holdings include QXO, Atlanta-based financial services firm Corpay, US tech multinational Alphabet, US health insurance providers Elevance Health and United Health Group as well as Japan’s tech firm Nintendo.

Orbis OEIC Global Balanced Fund (Standard)
The Orbis UK-domiciled Global Balanced Fund, which outperformed the index in 2024 and on a 10, five and three-year period, aims to balance investment returns, and risk of loss using a diversified global portfolio. The fund targets outperformance of the returns of its benchmark. To do this, it primarily invests in shares of publicly listed companies and bonds issued by companies and governments located anywhere around the world.

Top 10 holdings include iShares Physical Gold, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Japan’s Nintendo, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, US finance firm Burford Capital, and Siemens Energy which focuses on wind turbines, energy storage and electrification of the industry.