The investment advisory principles practiced by Yellow Capital are rooted in the work of the late Mr. Benjamin Graham, a professor of investments at Columbia Business School and author of Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor. Yellow Capital aims to determine the worth of a company share, by what Graham called “intrinsic value,” through an analysis process used to determine its acquisition value.

Intrinsic value refers to a company’s private market value or liquidation value. The process is closely related to credit analysis because the return of our capital is just as important to us as the return on our capital. Investments are made at a significant discount to intrinsic value, which Graham called an investor’s “margin of safety.” Adhering to the principles of intrinsic value and margin of safety often requires a contrarian investment policy and runs counter to the general market psychology. This policy reduces the decision to purchase or sell securities to a discipline rather than an art. Value investing has its roots tied in Behavioural Finance and the psychology around investments. It is far easier to stick to a process than it is to believe in forecasts and trying to identify certain patterns that may occur.

At stock level and when determining intrinsic value, Yellow Capital analyzes the fundamental principles of the balance sheet and income statement. We research and select securities that are selling at substantial discounts to their intrinsic value. We do our own in-house research and do not buy this research from analysts. We align our interests with our clients and therefore, where circumstances permit, we invest our personal wealth alongside our clients’ wealth.

Yellow Capital’s stock/fund selection criteria at the time of purchase have amongst others the following investment characteristics: low stock price in relation to book value and low price-to-earnings ratio as compared to other companies in the same industry, and predominantly companies with a small market capitalization. Generally, we prefer stocks that are not covered by analysts, or very few analysts if any.

Research studies confirm a historical statistical correlation between the investment characteristics mentioned above and above-average investment rates of return over long periods. Behavioural Finance is far more relevant to investment performance than I.Q.; this has been confirmed not only in scientific research studies but by countless real life examples.

Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Yellow Capital, Haydn Ellwood was the first U.K. national to attend the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, Canada and successfully complete the Executive Course on Value Investing at the prestigious Ben Graham centre for the advancement of Value Investing. This is only one of two institutions in the world that teach the principles of value investing as per Ben Graham & Bruce Greenwald of Columbia Business School.

Other great investors following the value investing principle include Warren Buffet, Walter Schloss, Seth Klarman and Tweedy, Browne & Co. LLC.

For further information on Yellow Capital’s Val-U-Share™ Portfolio and the valuation metrics used in the portfolio please contact