Advertising feature from Kernow Asset Management

How long would it take to copy your local coffee shop? A fortnight? An espresso machine, some distressed furniture and a barista who can explain the moral superiority of oat milk. Now try copying Burberry. The factories, products and distribution network might take £1 billion and seven years to replicate. Its heritage could take 30 years, £30 billion in marketing and the strategic marriage of one’s daughter into a celebrity dynasty. Tricky. At Kernow, we look at businesses and ask a simple question: how would we copy them? The market is full of rabbit holes. Most contain rabbits. Some companies take weeks to replicate. Others would take a lifetime. Occasionally, we cannot even work out what the business does. Those are often the ones we bet against.

As a child, I would disappear down to the beach in Cornwall and spend hours investigating rock pools. From above they looked empty. Get down on your knees and suddenly there were fish, crabs and entire worlds. The UK stock market is rather like that. The ice cream in Cornwall was pretty good too. Years later, I met Edward Hugo. Smart, relentless and the sort of man you trust. He was waiting in a coffee shop. The rain was biblical. London was miserable. And yet, I had spent years dreaming about this moment. Now I just needed Ed to say yes. In 2019, we founded Kernow. A contrarian investment manager specialising exclusively in UK equities. The timing was terrible. Everyone seemed to agree about Britain. Unloved.