Marcellus

Marcellus Consistent Compounders Portfolio (Marcellus CCP PMS)

KEY PORTFOLIO ATTRIBUTES #

Year of Inception 2018-12-01
Number of Stocks 16
Alpha (1Y) -9.54%
Beta (1Y) 0.56

About Marcellus Investment Managers Portfolio

Marcellus is dedicated to shaping a financial ecosystem where capital flows to enterprises that consistently demonstrate prudent capital allocation practices. Their approach combines quantitative analysis, leveraging forensic accounting insights, and a rigorous assessment of capital allocation strategies.

The dedicated and experienced investment team at Marcellus conducts in-depth primary research to identify companies with enduring competitive advantages, building a portfolio designed for long-term growth. They emphasize a low-churn or no-churn strategy, fostering an environment where wealth can multiply over the long haul.

Marcellus believes that by influencing capital allocation toward high-quality, well-managed companies, they not only create value for their investors but also contribute to the overall strength and sustainability of the Indian economy. At Marcellus, their mission is clear: to facilitate the efficient flow of capital to deserving enterprises, benefiting both investors and the broader economic landscape.

Key People

Mr. Saurabh Mukherjea
Mr. Saurabh Mukherjea Investment Managers (PMS)
Mr. Rakshit Ranjan
Mr. Rakshit Ranjan CFA, Portfolio Manager – Marcellus

Investment Objective

The Objective of Marcellus Consistent Compounders PMS is to invest in a concentrated portfolio of heavily moated businesses, that can drive healthy earnings growth over long periods of time.

Investment Strategy

Marcellus’ Consistent Compounders PMS is a quality portfolio that identifies firms with high pricing power that helps sustain a wide gap between returns on capital employed and cost of equity. The portfolio aims to hold such heavily moated and sustainably competitive companies for 8-10 years on an average where healthy returns are generated with volatility like that of a government bond.

The experienced investment team at Marcellus Investment Managers through in-depth primary research, uses quantitative frameworks which use a combination of forensic accounting and capital allocation assessment and shortlist companies with superior track record of capital allocation, that generate free cash flows. The idea is to hold these companies for long periods of time with little or no churn

The Portfolio Construction at Marcellus Investment Managers involves a two-stage process:

• Filter based approach to create an investible universe of 25-30 stocks

• In-depth bottom-up research of such companies in the universe to assess sustainable competitive moats to build a portfolio of 10-20 stocks that deliver healthy compounded earnings growth over long periods of time.

While the filters are applied annually, companies in the portfolio and in the coverage universe are monitored for sustainability of moats on a continuous basis through extensive primary and secondary research.

The filter-based approach is to create a list of stocks using a twin-filter criterion of double-digit YoY revenue growth and return on capital higher than the cost of capital, each year for 10 years in a row. Next, build a portfolio of such stocks and hold them patiently for long periods of time, with very little churn.

Investment Philosophy

At Marcellus, the Purpose is to make wealth creation simple and accessible by being trustworthy and transparent capital allocators.

The investment philosophy at Marcellus has evolved from the ideas of Kirby and Thiel, which they have refined further.

The investing approach has 3 pillars:

Clean Accounts: They have quantitative frameworks which use a combination of forensic accounting and capital allocation assessment define our investible universe.

Capital Allocation: They look for companies with superior track record of capital allocation – companies that generate free cash flows and reinvest them in the business to fuel further growth.

Competitive Advantage: The experienced investment team through in-depth primary research, constructs a portfolio of companies with deep competitive moats.

These companies are then held on for long periods of time with little or no churn, which allows them to capture the benefits of long-term compounding and deliver superior returns.

Investment Attributes

Corporate Governance:- The foremost step to building an investment portfolio is to identify and staying away from  companies which are not clean in terms of accounting . This is the universe of companies that is studied for investing.

Consistent Compounders:- Being clean in accounting doesn’t mean that company has a potential to compound investors’ wealth. So, how do you find such companies that are not only clean, but also compound wealth. Amongst world’s large economies, India is the only economy where one can find in sector after sector, either one or at most two companies accounting for maximum profit share of that sector”

MANY EXAMPLES:-

• Paints – Asian Paints and Berger Paints
• Cigarettes – ITC
• Baby Milk Power – Nestle
• Cooking oil – Marico’s Saffola & Adani’s Wilmar Brand
• Adhesives – Pidilite’s Fevicol brand
• Trucks – Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors

Likewise there are approx. 25 such companies which are not only clean, but that dominate the essential product market with each player being a leader in its product category. For a large country like India, a company dominating product category for 20-30 years, means, company would be generating large cash flow, so much that company can be called ‘a money making machine’. For these companies decade after decade, average annualized return on capital employed (ROCE = Profits/Total Capital Employed ), ranges between 30% – 100% p a.

You won’t find so high ROCE numbers in companies of large economies. Take examples of Toyota, Daimler Chrysler, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Walmart, Accenture, Royale Dutch Shell, think of all key global companies you can think of, and you will find at max ROC of 15%.

Why Marcellus CCP?

The Consistent Compounders Portfolio combines the deep-dive stock-specific research with the benefits of the filter-based approach explained earlier, to help generate outperformance of 4-5% per annum over and above these filter-based portfolios.

This is achieved via 3 factors:

Portfolio concentration: The filters might give a longer list of stocks which dilutes the reliance of the portfolio on outstanding companies. The team narrows the portfolio down to 12-15 ultra-high-quality stocks.

Identifying the real source of strong fundamentals: Many housing finance companies, for example, cleared the filter-based criteria in 2018 or in 2019, but their fundamentals had been aided by macro factors including low-cost money market funding and a booming real estate sector, which may not sustain in the future. Hence, the research-based approach did not accept most of these housing finance companies despite their healthy historical track record.

Identifying one-off blips in historical fundamentals: Nestle India’s Maggi episode, for example, drove revenue growth of Nestle India below 10% in FY15. Similarly, the fall in crude oil prices to below US$30 per barrel caused a 6% product price cut by Asian Paints in FY17 which led to its revenue growth dropping below 10% YoY in FY17. Manual intervention in portfolio construction analyses the nature of these blips and on case-to-case basis consider the inclusion of such stocks in the portfolio.

Frequently Asked Questions

INTERESTING & INSIGHTFUL QUESTION THAT IS FREQUENTLY ASKED BY MARCELLUS CCP INVESTORS?

If you and i can see these companies generating so high return on capital employed, why can’t other competitors in their respective industries come chasing to take a share from them. like we have seen reliance jio taking away vodafone and bharti’s profits.

 

Is this risk not there in the marcellus underlying companies like hdfc bank, pidilite, asian paints, dr lal path labs, tcs, nestle, titan, abbott etc ??

Answer : firstly, marcellus ccp companies have created strong entry barriers for their competitors through their brand equity and through the business execution strategies followed repeatedly. this make it extremely difficult for competition to hurt market share or margins for these businesses. secondly, these companies over years have created competitive moats, which are difficult to break easily. these companies actually approached the most challenging aspect in the respective sector; rather than resolving the challenge in a simple, straight forward manner, these companies have thrown disruptions on the construct of the sector and have actually made challenge harder for everybody to operate in. solution to the problem being the strong forte of these companies, provide them strong ‘business moat’, which is not easy to replicate for others.

 

If a concentrated equity portfolio of 12-15 such companies with very high roce, is created, it can potentially deliver returns significantly higher than nifty with underlying volatility half of nifty. so, if you want to compound wealth without getting sleepless nights, look for such consistent compounders. since, earnings and return on capital of these companies is so huge and consistent, these companies enjoy high p/e and should continue to do so.

A well-researched, and concentrated portfolio of these companies is “a low risk route to stupendous wealth creation” marcellus investment managers follows this approach and offers a low cost, a low risk portfolio of clean, well run companies that deal in essential products and enjoy monopoly in their product category. this is reason marcellus pms product is named as consistent compounders portfolio.

Marcellus ccp pms comes with all flexibilities like zero entry load, zero exit load, zero fixed fee, and only one paise of custody fee.

We at pms aif world recognise marcellus ccp pms as one of the right investment products for consistent wealth creation by informed investors.

Awards & Achievements

• In 2021, Marcellus’ Consistent Compounders Portfolio or Marcellus CCP was awarded Rank #2 as the Best Newcomer PMS across all categories, on a 2Y Absolute Returns Basis. These Awards were hosted by PMS AIF WORLD, in association with IIM-Ahmedabad.

• In 2021, Marcellus’ Little Champs Portfolio or Marcellus LCP was awarded Rank #2 as the Best Newcomer PMS across all categories, on a 1Y Absolute Returns Basis. These Awards were hosted by PMS AIF WORLD, in association with IIM-Ahmedabad.

Performance Table #


Trailing Returns (%) 1m return 3m return 6m return 1y return 2y return 3y return 5y return 10y return Since inception return
Marcellus Investment Managers Consistent Compounders0.37%-1.54%4.21%19.56%4.25%8.23%16.20%-15.21%
Nifty 50 TRI1.32%9.38%14.57%28.49%15.74%16.16%16.65%-15.69%

QRC Report Card *




VIEW DETAILED QUALITY, RISK, CONSISTENCY ANALYSIS

Portfolio Holdings


Holding %
Asian Paints Ltd. 9.50
Bajaj Finance Ltd. 10.00
Berger Paints India Ltd. 0.00
Divi's Laboratories Ltd. 8.00
Dr. Lal Pathlabs Ltd. 8.50
HDFC Bank Ltd. 11.00
HDFC Life Insurance Co Ltd. 5.50
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd 3.70
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. 5.00
Nestle India Ltd. 3.50
Page Industries Ltd. 8.10
Pidilite Industries Ltd. 3.20
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. 5.50
Titan Company Ltd. 8.50
Astral Ltd 3.50
Trent Ltd. 6.00
Top 16 Equity Holdings 99.50

Sector Allocation


Holding %
Consumer Discretionary 22.60
Consumer Staples 3.50
Financial Services 35.20
Home-Building Materials 16.20
Pharma & Health-Care 16.50
Information Technology 5.50
Cash 0.50

Market Cap Allocation


Allocations %
Large Cap 75.90
Mid Cap 15.10
Small Cap 8.50
Cash 0.50

Do Not Simply Invest, Make Informed Decisions

WISH TO MAKE INFORMED INVESTMENTS FOR LONG TERM WEALTH CREATION

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From the Founders & Managers of Marcellus Investment Managers PMS

What to expect from Marcellus’ Consistent Compounders PMS?

Consistent Compounders PMS invests in deeply moated, high quality companies that are capable of compounding their free cash flows consistently at a very healthy rates. Such companies are institutions (rather than one man shows) which possess clean accounts and allocate capital to deepen their competitive advantages, add new revenue growth drivers with deep moats and radically disrupt their industry to enable sustenance of greatness in the long term future.

Investors in this portfolio should expect a strong absolute return with very low volatility in performance for time periods longer than 2-3 years, and thereby outperformance vs Nifty50 by a healthy margin. This is a concentrated portfolio of 12-15 companies with low churn and no attempt to time entry and exit points.

Who should invest in this PMS?

Investors with patient capital, seeking to compound their wealth with low risk and high return should invest in this PMS. The time horizon for investment should be as long as possible, with a minimum time horizon of 3 years.

Which is the best company through which an investor can invest in Marcellus Consistent Compounders Portfolio (Marcellus CCP PMS)?

We recommend PMS AIF WORLD, because, it is one unique platform that offers real knowledge driven investing with their highly meaningful data, reports, and content that is written very well. PMS AIF World is a team of highly articulate, educated, and experienced people.

Disclaimer

#Returns as of 29 Feb 2024. Returns up to 1 Year are absolute, above 1 Year are CAGR.

*QRC Report Card data is updated quarterly. Current data is as of Dec 23.


Do Not Simply Invest, Make Informed Decisions

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