John Sevior Quotes
112 John Sevior Quotes
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[On managing billions of dollars in funds bringing power along with it.] The power is not what motivates me but you are clearly in a powerful position because you are large. I stop short of saying influential because there have been cases in the past where we were large shareholders and certainly had the right to have influence but haven’t had it. In the end, the only thing that matters is performance. You can feel that you are powerful but that is pretty ephemeral really.
John Sevior
[On leaving Perpetual to setup his own company.] I had lost a little bit of faith in the direction of the company and after 17 years it was time to go anyway.
John Sevior
[In September 2012 on leaving Perpetual.] It hurt me. I don’t mean to sound like a sook but your response is totally emotional. You would think you could be rational and say ‘that’s business’, but you don’t. The whole business world has become so transactional. Maybe I am past it, and my values are outdated, but it used to be about relationships and trust, something that is enduring. It feels so transactional now. It is short term. It is not good.
John Sevior
[On his parents passing away as a teenager.] I was 13 when Dad died. It was a heart attack. I got up one morning, it was the first day of school, and he wasn’t there. I never saw him again. He was taken by ambulance during the night. Mum and my aunt, who lived nearby, were standing in the lounge room in dressing gowns. That was second year high school and we were living in Beaumaris, beachside Melbourne. I was at the local high school. A few months later, Mum was diagnosed with liver cancer. She died about 10 months after Dad.
John Sevior
[On how he handled his parents passing away.] Kids have a lot more wisdom or awareness that you give them credit for. And I think I had a realisation that I had a choice to either sink or swim and I had better swim.
John Sevior
[On eventually going to boarding school after his parents passing away.] I was flexible; wherever home was at the time – that was where I had to get on. Geelong Grammar was a great substitute home, a very warm school.
John Sevior
[On his late mother being a keen investor who had six stocks in her portfolio when she passed away - Coles, Mount Isa Mines, Myer, SA Brewing, ICI, and Carlton & United Breweries. In 1983 when John Sevior turned 21 it was worth the tidy sum of about $150,000.] I had no idea what I was going to do when I left university, but a friend lined up an interview at a small Melbourne stockbroker, Davies and Dalziel … I guess I had inherited these shares and I thought I had better learn about it.
John Sevior
[On his first stockbroking job at Davies and Dalziel.] They had a manual cards system like a Rolodex with 300 companies’ profit results and each year they had to be updated. I would go down to the stock exchange and bring back a Santa sack of all the company results. I basically transcribed the newest results, so I got exposed to 300 companies and, being curious, you say ‘what does this do, what does that company do’. That is really the basis for my love [of investing].
John Sevior
I wasn’t cut out for institutional sales. I had 20 clients and the people who were good at it systematically called every client every day with a story to tell. I just didn’t have a story to tell every day – and I wasn’t going to make one up, because you don’t get a good investment idea every day. So it really kind of jarred. I made a conscious decision to leave the industry and I wasn’t going to go back. It was not me.
John Sevior
[On deciding to try financial journalism with a 80% cut in salary for five years.] I loved it. Clients now say ‘what did you learn?’ Well, you get lied to a lot so it really develops your bullsh*t meter; your people-reading skills. You learn to deal with large amounts of information and distil it into a story that is comprehensible. You learn to edit your thoughts.
John Sevior
[After financial journalism taking six months off and looking at various business ideas.] I looked at buying an ice cream business; looked at a few businesses, but realised I couldn’t run a corner store. Then it dawned on me that I could do what I loved for a living [Investing].
John Sevior
[On John Murray and Peter Morgan who were running at the time Perpetual’s investment book.] They stood out because they were really savvy investors and really normal people. Other places would say ‘you are a journalist, piss off’, whereas they were happy to have a conversation and to talk ideas. I had been investing for 10 years so I kind of knew which way was up. They didn’t think they knew it all. And I loved the way they invested. [Conservative first, bold second.]
John Sevior
[On being given his first fund to invest at Perpetual with $5 million to invest in small companies in May 1995 and growing that to $54 million from performance and additional money put in.] It was a period of big transitions. Some large fund managers decided to get out of smaller companies. There were great lines of stock available and I think in that run we had 16 takeovers in 18 months. It was roughly one a month – it was the luckiest time in my investment career.
John Sevior
[On judging a good chief executive.] I like authentic people. The journalist’s bullshit meter has been further honed through investing... There are a lot of narcissistic CEOs and I don’t think you need to be that type of person to be successful. I think good people run good companies.
John Sevior
[On the role of a company board.] I think it is the chairman well out in front. It is really the chairman you have to examine. I don’t say the board just falls in line but, from my experience, the chairman has a disproportionate interest.
John Sevior
[In December 2013 on Airlie Funds Management.] We opened at a very opportune time in terms of where the market was at, so that’s enabled most of the early clients to have a good absolute return and a very solid real return.
John Sevior
[In December 2013.] I think it’s quite a confusing environment at the moment, particularly with rates low so the risk-free bogey is low by historical standards and that’s led to a wholesale re-rating of income type stocks like banks, which look to be quite highly valued by historical standards
John Sevior
[In December 2013.] Everyone wants to be a hero and make the call, it’s probably unlikely that they’ll hold these ratings but if rates stay low for longer, which they could, then these valuations could hold for longer than people might have expected.
John Sevior
[In December 2013.] Companies don’t change much but the prices do and we’re waiting for better prices.
John Sevior
[In December 2013.] I’m naturally a rainy day guy. I like to have a bit of firepower for opportunities as they arrive. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re waiting for the market to fall hard. It can be individual stock opportunities. So you might get a situation like a Worley, where the stock is down 25 per cent, that we’re probably drawn to. In an overall rising market you can still get individual stock opportunities and that’s really what we focus on.
John Sevior
[On the OzForex IPO.] A terrific business but a bit pricey for us.
John Sevior
[In March 2014.] We have high expectations of ourselves.
John Sevior
[In March 2014 on Suncorp.] It has quite a simple strategy which we like.
John Sevior
[In March 2014.] I think good companies look after themselves.
John Sevior
[In March 2014.] In an ideal world we’d love our businesses just to chug along and do their stuff, but from time to time you do need to intervene. And I don’t think we are shy about doing that.
John Sevior
[In March 2014 on being asked about QANTAS.] If I were a QANTAS shareholder, - unfortunately it fails our investment test. Then I’d be extremely disgruntled at the state of affairs at QANTAS at lots of levels and most importantly for investors, the sharemarket performance which is really affected by the operating performance.
John Sevior
[In March 2014 on Fairfax.] It’s still a terrific company in terms of it’s content… It’s a business that does have structural challenges and we’re not naturally drawn to those sorts of industries.
John Sevior
[In March 2014 on the plefora of IPO deals and private equity sales.] It’s deal mania. It’s like 2007 or 1999. There’s a whole lot of deals – no surprise the markets at a high. Valuations for the general market are high. So everyone that has a business to sell are knocking on investors doors trying to get a deal as always.
John Sevior
[In March 2014 on IPO’s.] The rule is to as always assess each case on it’s merits. As you would same caveat emptor.
John Sevior
[In March 2014.] I think any market interruption provides an opportunity. It’s just again picking your eye through what’s good and what’s not good.
John Sevior
[In March 2014.] Superannuation is a great vehicle for long term saving, but…
John Sevior
[In March 2014.] I do my hobby for a living... My other great hobby is investing. I get to do my hobby for a living.
John Sevior
[In March 2014 on how Airlie Funds Management is going so far.] It’s been great fun.
John Sevior
Bonus
[On John Sevior.] He forms his own view, is not influenced by the noise and is not concerned to hold back from speaking his mind and forming his own decisions, which are made in his own unique, clear, independent thought-gathering process. He is less interested in personal gain and much more interested in performance. In my view, it is those attributes which have enabled John to stand apart and perform better than the herd.
Robert Whyte
[In February 2007 on John Sevior.] I would say that he keeps his ego in check which is a hallmark of some of the best international investors as well.
Chris Mackay (Former UBS head.)
[On John Sevior can] Hit the same spot five balls out of six. He's the best big-money funds managers in the market.
Matthew Kidman
I was a better buyer, John [Sevior] a better seller. I was more countercyclical. I'd want to go in early and then take a profit. John would want to wait till it kicked up but he'd hold (till full value was realised).
Peter Morgan
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