Global Value Hunter

30/01/2025

"Foreign exchange risk has always been—and still is – on top of the list of concerns for those with a modicum of knowledge about Frontier markets in general, and African markets in particular.

"So, it is remarkable to me – and I certainly did not expect it – that 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰, 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. The currencies in our two largest investment markets, Tanzania and Kenya, both gained appreciably against the US dollar, by 4.23% and 21.6%, respectively. The Ugandan shilling also gained 2.82% for the year.

"The US Dollar, in turn, was also stronger against most other major world currencies, so investors who use the Euro, Pound, Aussie Dollar or even Swiss Franc as their reference currency did even better than the Fund’s US dollar return.

"What the foreign exchange gains we logged in 2024 demonstrate to me, above all else, is that markets will usually make fools of us all. Rather than try and outwit the market, I prefer to stay humble, and acknowledge that, as the late, larger-than-life Australian stockbroker Rene Rivkin said, “𝘼𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩𝙨.”

"So, my focus is always on what I can control, not what I can’t."

-- Excerpt from Tim's Letter to Investors 4Q2024

15/01/2025

The Fund just had its best month ever, gaining 10.30% in December. Our hurdle index, on the other hand, gained a modest 3.02%.

Every $25,000 invested in the Fund when we started four years ago, is now worth over $45,000. That's 15.22% compound annual growth.

For 2024 African Lions Fund gained 27.07%, beating the mighty S&P 500 for the second year in the past three. Since inception our gains come to 82.57%.

16/09/2024

African Lions Fund eked out another gain (+0.08%) in August.

We are now up 55.3% since inception nearly 4 years ago, in USD, after all fees and expenses.

It has not been easy going in African Frontier Markets over that time. Our benchmark, the S&P Africa Frontier BMI USD (Total Return ) Index is down 15.2% in the same period.

With the high-quality businesses we own continuing to materially grow their earnings in USD terms, we remain confident of future outperformance. Several of these companies are trading on valuations that are, quite frankly, absurd. We thus remain optimistic that we will see some degree of upward re-valuation as well, with the passage of time.

27/08/2024

"Africa offered me the opportunity to do what I really wanted to do, which is to buy high quality businesses at low valuations. So that's been the journey so far for me. And as I say, it's going well." -- Tim Staermose, Founder of African Lions Fund hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag

In this conversation, Tim shares about his move from investing in Asia to Africa, the opportunity for value investing in Africa, and the macro factors he’s keeping an eye on between now and year end.

06/08/2024

These are some of the countries that are seeing the great potential that is in Africa. If you are thinking of dipping your toes into African stock market investing, inside is an informative article from a very good African-centric Substack account on African stock markets history, strengths and challenges. The article also believes in one of African Lions Fund’s theses ...

You probably think the top country investor in Africa is China.

27/07/2024

This is the sort of company we own, and dream about owning more of... SONATEL 1H2024 net profits up 29.6% on a 10.5% growth in revenue.

23/07/2024

African Lions Fund continues to show solid gains in 2024, up 10.38% year to date. Our hurdle index meanwhile is down over 30%. We remain the Top Performing Africa Frontier fund of any kind (equity / debt / blended), based on our 3-year performance (+25.62%) in US dollars.

04/07/2024

Many people have no concept of what life is like in African countries. The media stereotypes and cliches of tribes, corruption, violence, and rudimentary living conditions are simply not accurate. Many countries are advancing, and more and more people are moving into cities just like they do elsewhere in the world. Just as rice paddies in many Asian countries have been transformed into megacities, we are seeing a similar change taking place in Africa. It will take time for urbanization to reach developed country levels. But it is well underway...

Africa, as a whole, has the lowest share of urban population in the world … at the same time it has the fastest-growing cities (over three times faster than North America). This is important because urbanization historically goes hand in hand with economic development. That said, let’s look at t...

30/06/2024

As foreshadowed, we have now published details about our team's recent trip to Lagos.

Solid investment ideas amid the current economic difficulties may be rare. But they DO exist..

Nigeria has been going through a dramatic economic transformation since my first trip there two years ago. First, the currency is now floating freely.

18/06/2024

Over the weekend, African Lions Fund Founder, Tim Staermose, met Collins Saliboko who is brand ambassador for one of the Fund's biggest holdings, Twiga Cement.

Collins is Tanzania's top male swimmer and a delightful young man. He is bound for the Paris Summer Olympics next month but still needs a few more sponsors, together with the Fund's Board Director Peter Chor Leng Tan we will help make it happen!

14/06/2024

Numbers are out for African Lions Fund's performance in May. We were up another 4.7%, and has now gained 60.3% since inception, or 12.94% CAGR. Overall, so far, we are outperforming our benchmark (S&P Africa Frontier BMI Total Return Index) by 80.39%.

04/06/2024

Such positive news about Africa don’t usually make it to the mainstream media. Help us spread the good news by liking and sharing this post.

Will it work on a continent where less than half of the population has access to electricity?