Please read the Unison Asset Management Social Media Disclaimer

The world faces a “staggering” surplus of oil equating to millions of barrels a day by the end of the decade, as oil companies increase production, undermining the ability of OPEC+ to manage crude prices, the International Energy Agency has warned. "While demand is forecasted to peak before 2030, continued investment by oil producers, led by the US, would by then result in more than 8mn b/d of spare capacity", the IEA wrote in its annual report on the industry released in June.

Indian equity markets have become a hotbed of activity as millions of new retail investors have flooded into stocks. “There is a lot of speculative activity and it is sounding like a casino,” says Raamdeo Agrawal, chair of Motilal Oswal, which has millions of clients across India and co-sponsored the options summit roadshow. “The masses are really writing puts, selling puts, doing restructured calls. I mean, this is crazy stuff.” The notional trading volumes of options on the Nifty 50 index averaged about $1.64tn a day this year, surpassing the S&P 500’s $1.44tn, according to Bank of America.

Time in the right stocks matters. A new paper published by Hendrik Bessembinder of Arizona State University points out that of the nearly 30,000 publicly-listed common stocks contained in the CRSP database over nearly a century ended December 2023, the top seventeen stocks delivered cumulative returns greater than five million percent (or $50,000 per dollar initially invested), with the highest cumulative return of 265 million percent (or $2.65 million per dollar initially invested) accruing to long-term investors in Altria Group. Despite this impressive compounding feat, Altria’s compounded annual return works out to 16.3%, but over 98 years! In fact, the annualized compound returns to the top performers in the list were relatively modest, averaging 13.47% across the top seventeen stocks. 

Costco is the third-largest retailer globally, behind only Walmart and Amazon. One-third of US consumers shop there for its low prices, high-quality products, and exceptional customer service. It sells half the world’s cashews and its private label, Kirkland, generates more revenue than brands like Nike and Coca-Cola. The company’s idiosyncratic culture can be credited for its great success. Through a keen focus on keeping costs down (Kirkland products are rarely marked up more than 15%), the Company has built a very loyal customer base – with a 93% membership renewal rate. Frontline employees are motivated and stable as they are paid significantly better than at other major retailers ($26/hr at Costco vs. $17/hr for competitors). Costco tends to promote from within, helping perpetuate its core values further. The importance of culture in building great companies cannot be underestimated.

Sir Lucian Grainge is chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group (UMG), the largest of the Big Three labels, next to Warner and Sony. Grainge has led a career spanning over 45 years in the industry and has faced several key turning points in history that have changed music forever. He is no stranger to technological disruption, having been around for the introduction of CDs, the launch of online music stores, and the rise of streaming services. But now, the industry faces yet another revolution that remains unclear: generative AI. Since the rise of AI voice replications early last year, copyright concerns have sparked fears across the industry. But Grainge refuses to give into the fears— choosing instead to face them head-on as he has done in the past. He is pushing UMG to be at the forefront of this revolution, leveraging bold collaborations with tech players and exploring new monetization strategies. In his own words, “nothing is going to happen while [he] is still [there]”.