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Outside of that, we are hoping the travel space will bounce back. The timing is still up in the air, but we have taken small positions in Booking.com, which is cash generative, and very asset-light. In Asia, for example, the shift to an online travel market has been much more rapid, but in other parts of the world, there’s still a lot of penetration to go, particularly in the U.S. and Western Europe, so there’s a strong tailwind there. If you want to take a foray into the travel space, you just have to be very aware of what you are investing in and make sure those companies have strong balance sheets because it's very difficult for anyone to say how long the curtailment of travel will last.

We have also invested in a company called Kion, a German company that’s known for its industrial trucks, but its business going forward in increasingly focused on warehouse automation, particularly after its purchase of U.S. supply chain automation specialist Dematic. Obviously, selling industrial warehouse trucks and forklifts is challenging at the moment, but there will be an opportunity to increase our position as they work through this challenging period.

Has the firm's investment approach changed as a result of Covid-19?

The primary investment philosophy of Foord to be conservative and invest over the long-term, so pre and post-COVID, the idea hasn't changed. We're here to partner with our clients and grow their wealth over time. We’ve been historically focused on forecasting a company’s long-term earnings, typically on a three to five-year horizon, and strongly believe that a company’s long-term profitability will ultimately determine its valuation and stock price.

«This time, it will be more difficult for those who are carrying much more leverage than they should»

We build our portfolios with companies that have strong management teams, competitive advantages that are sustainable, generate returns in excess of the structural growth ahead of them, and are trading at decent valuations. A piece that has always been important to us is the strength of the company’s balance sheet, and obviously, in this kind of environment, it has become more important than any time since the global financial crisis, and even in excess of that, as we didn't see businesses close for months on end. This time, it will be more difficult for those who are carrying much more leverage than they should.

And what's your outlook for Singapore as a financial hub?

I think Singapore has done quite an excellent job in dealing with something that at the beginning was an incredible unknown. So I think Singapore’s reputation as a financial center might be improved as we get on the other side of the circuit breaker, and I’m hopeful that we’ll see the economy open up slowly over time.

We’re very committed to Singapore, and I’m sure Foord will be here for the long-term.    

Brian Arcese is a portfolio manager on the Foord Global Equity fund and Foord SICAV - Foord International Fund. He has 19 years of investment experience managing products in both developed and emerging markets, both long-only and long/short products, as well as across investment styles and market capitalizations. Prior to joining Foord in 2014, he was instrumental in the development, management, and growth of Morgan Stanley’s flagship international equity fund, taking the business from inception to $3.5 billion in assets under management.